


When I Grow Up

by Icka M Chif (mischif)



Category: SWAT Kats: The Radical Squadron
Genre: Drunken Shenanigans, Families of Choice, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, I Don't Even Know, Introspection, Magic, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-06
Updated: 2015-10-13
Packaged: 2018-04-19 10:40:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 28,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4743260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mischif/pseuds/Icka%20M%20Chif
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“It’s just…” Callie sighed. “Did you ever think we’d ever end up like this?”</p><p>Jake thought it over. “Well, the constant mutant attacks are a surprise.” He finally admitted.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When I grow up, I'll be Stable

“Jake?” Callie’s familiar voice echoed through the front office of Jake and Chance’s Garage. “You in?”

It took a second for Jake to realise that yes, the Deputy Mayor was here. He mentally set aside the invoices he was working on as he rose out of his chair to greet her. “Over here, Miss Briggs.” He called, absently wiping his hands on a rag, even though he knew that he’d already removed the grease from them before starting the paperwork.

He got a smile from the pretty blond she-kat as she waved a reprimanding finger at him. “How many times do I have to tell you to call me ‘Callie’ when I’m off duty?” Deputy Mayor Calico "Callie" Briggs scolded.

”Wasn’t sure if you were off-duty or not.” Jake shrugged, but grinned back as he put the rag back in his back pocket. “And it took me long enough to remember to call you ‘Miss Briggs’, sometimes it’s hard to remember to switch back.”

”Guess I deserve that.” She sighed, looking tired despite the still fond smile on her face. “I haven’t been by in a social capacity in a while.”

”And something tells me you’re not tonight.” He pointed to the briefcase she was holding. She grimaced, giving him an apologetic look that he waved off with a fond sense of amusement. “C’mon, you can use my office.”

”Sorry, Jake.” She murmured as she followed him into the office.

”Forget it.” He grinned, quickly shuffling the invoices off to one side of the desk and leaving the central area clear. It wasn’t the first time she’d come here for peace and quiet, and he doubted it was going to be the last. He knew how hard Callie worked, and if there was any kat who deserved a little quiet time where no one would bother them, it was her. “What else are friends for?”

He pulled the chair out for her, giving her a small playful bow as she sank into it. “Thanks.” She said quietly, flicking her tail to the side so she wouldn’t sit on it, before setting her briefcase on the cleared desk.

”No problemo.” He grinned back. “My office is your office. Need your car looked at while you’re here?”

”Nah. It’s purring like a kitten.” She sighed, tilting her head back and closing her eyes, as she slowly melted into the chair. “And I think you did that last time. Although I did say the oil needed changing as an excuse to get out of City Hall."

"Sometimes I think you keep that car around as an excuse to come visit." Jake teased, noting the lines of exhaustion on her face. 

"Drat.” Callie opened one eye a sliver, peering at him playfully before closing her eyes again as she was distracted by a yawn. ”You saw through my fiendish plan."

As fiendish plans went, it wasn’t so bad. He’d heard a few comments that she should upgrade to something newer, but her sedan was built like a tank, and probably the most distinctive land-based vehicle around. Ann Gora always announced on the news that the Deputy Mayor was on the scene whenever the huge green car drove up, and the Enforcers knew to part the crowds when they saw the car as well.

He gently patted her shoulder and wandered out, Callie’s eyes still closed in a small nap. He wandered into their living section to check on Chance and finding him passed out on the couch, Scaredy Kat blaring on the television. Jake turned down the volume to a more comfortable level before finding the blanket behind the couch and spreading it over Chance’s large slumbering form. His partner stirred and made a mumbling comment about frogs before drifting back off to sleep.

Jake watched Chance for a moment before wandering off into the kitchen and grabbing a couple bottles of milk. It’d been a long day today, for all of them.

He headed back to the office, finding Callie sorting paperwork from her open briefcase. “Here.” He opened the bottle and set it down next to her before opening his own.

”Thanks.” She took it and guzzled half of it back in a manner that would have had many of her upper society friends horrified. “Oh. I needed that.” Callie admitted as she held the cold bottle to her temple.

He chuckled quietly, stealing a few sips of his own. “I’ll be in the garage if you need me. Chance is asleep on the couch in the other room, he probably won’t wake up for a bit. If he does, coulda either send him my way or upstairs to bed?” Of course, that would probably confuse poor Chance, he'd always had the rotten luck to never catch Callie the few times she'd made it over for anything other than business.

”Of course.” She agreed, setting the bottle down. “How’s he doing?” She asked, edging about things they both knew the other knew but couldn’t talk about. 

Jake shrugged. “Sore, but he’ll be fine.”

The Swat Kats had gotten an emergency distress call from Miss Briggs earlier that day, Dr. Viper was on the loose again. They’d defeated him with a minimum of fuss and property damage, but T-bone had taken a nasty hit to his shoulder. Not enough to dislocate or break anything, but hard enough to leave him sore for a few days. Jake had eventually tricked his partner into taking some painkillers while watching Scaredy Kat, the relaxation and absence of pain enough to finally give Chance some much needed rest.

They were tough, macho guys, but that didn’t mean that they could afford not to take care of themselves. Especially when they didn’t know when the next emergency was going to send them out again.

Although with Callie here, the chances of them being called for action just went down a great deal.

Callie nodded, her expression thoughtful and he slipped away, leaving her to her thoughts. He meandered out into the garage and took a mental inventory of their backlog, figuring out what he could do without Chance’s second set of hands. He finally settled on finding a leaking hose on a car, a simple, if annoying job.

He lost track of time as he finally narrowed down where the leak was. Working on cars wasn’t the same as working on their beloved TurboKat, but there was something relaxing about being elbow deep in the guts of a machine, working on it getting it up to maximum efficiency. Cars were simpler than the TurboKat, but there was a comfort in that simplicity, the knowledge that at least this, he could fix.

Unexpected footsteps made him slide out from under the car, wary of an attack. Instead, he found himself looking up at a smiling Callie, holding a bottle of milk out to him. He dropped the defensive posture, embarrassed that he’d been caught ready to defend himself from _Callie_ of all people. “Thanks.” He muttered.

”How’s it going?” She asked instead, politely ignoring his faux pas with a not quite hidden mischievous smile.

“Pretty good, I’m pretty much caught up.” He said, taking the milk from her and opening it. “This’ll be ready for pick up tomorrow morning.”

“That’s good.” The smile widened slightly on her face, then faded away as she looked at the salvage around him with a melancholy air.

“Callie?” He questioned, taking a sip of the milk to give her a moment to gather her thoughts.

“It’s just…” She sighed. “Did you ever think we’d ever end up like this?”

Jake thought it over. “Well, the constant mutant attacks are a surprise.” He finally admitted.

She let out a snort of laughter, pushing her glasses higher on her nose. “No, I mean…” She gestured around the salvage yard. “You live in a junk yard.”

"Salvage yard." He corrected, the smiled nostalgically, if not a bit sadly. "It's not exactly where I pictured ended up when we were growing up either."

"Briggs and Clawson." Callie quoted. "The two biggest brains in Megakat High. Honours Society, Debate Club-"

"That was you, not me." Jake smirked, idly sloshing the milk around in the can. "I was too busy building stuff. Or blowing stuff up."

"I think the science teacher's whiskers grew back... Eventually." Callie grinned.

"Yeah." Jake hooted. "Backwards!"

They both cackled at the memory, their laugher slowly trailing off. They sat in silence, each in their own thoughts. Middle School, Elementary School… He couldn’t remember if they’d met in Kittergarten or not, he couldn’t really remember a time when they hadn’t known each other. He was pretty sure that her Mom still had pictures of the two of them trading clothes while in diapers.

She was the one person he’d trusted implacably for years. The one person who never overlooked his scrawny stature, or mocked him for his brains. Until he’d met Chance.

Well, met and bested Chance, anyway.

"And now here we are." She said softly. "Me, Deputy Mayor, You..." She trailed off again.

They’d planned it all out. She’d go into politics, he’d go into the Enforcers and they’d both move up in the ranks, cleaning up the city as they went.

He looked down at his can of milk again. At least one of them had succeeded. "It's not so bad here." He said quietly.

"Jake!" Callie hissed, scandalized.

She’d fought hard when Feral’s sentence had been given to them. It hadn’t been quite _legal_ what the Commander had done. Kicking them out of the Enforcers was one thing, but then saddling them with working off the debt after doing so was another. Technically, once he’d kicked them out, they’d been civilians and therefore not regulated by military jurisdiction.

The fact that Feral had been able to do without due process, on live television was another. If it’d been allowed to go to court, things might have ended up differently. But kats had been looking for someone to blame over the loss of Enforcer headquarters, and they’d been it.

So they were used as warning to others, don’t toe the line or you’ll end up disgraced in the Salvage Yard like Clawson and Furlong.

Callie had nearly destroyed her career trying to make things better, and it had taken some wrangling on Jake's part to get her to drop it. Although she did make it legally impossible for it to happen to anyone else. Laws existed for a reason, and needed to be upheld.

"No, I'm serious. Honestly, this is probably the best thing that could have happened to me." He looked up at her irate face, then motioned around the piles of wreckage around them. "I know it doesn’t look like much, but take another look through my eyes."

Callie stared at him for moment, then looked around again. At the ratty sign reading 'Jake and Chance's Garage', the decrepit building, the surrounding mounds of rusting cars, the broken planes, the piles of parts.

It looked like a wasteland, he knew. But to him, surroundings through the eyes of a mechanic, an inventor, it was…

"Paradise." She said quietly.

Jake chuckled. "Maybe not exactly paradise, but it’s close." He said, with a slight smile, looking at the piles of metal. "Enough raw materials to build whatever I can dream up. With new parts delivered to our doorstep every week."

Of course, they had to cart those parts away and put them in the proper piles every day, thanks to Burke and Murray, but that made it all the easier to the gold among the dross.

And it was all his and Chance's. He’d been registering and selling patents of defensive and protective designs to make enough money to quietly buy the land that they were now standing on.

He could probably make a fortune if he patented the Swat Kats weaponry, but he didn’t want anyone else getting their hands on it. Especially those they fought against. But armour and safety equipment that could save lives, particularly Enforcer lives, and he had no problem with that.

He probably should have talked it over with Chance, about how much money he had, and possibly paying off their debt. But fuel for the Turbo Kat wasn’t cheap, and this way once their debt to the Enforcers was paid or cleared, they couldn’t be kicked off and lose access to all their gear.

Which meant that the Enforcers would require a warrant to search the grounds, since it was private property, and didn’t belong to the Enforcers. Getting the rest of the property was just added protection. 

Also, the expression on Feral’s face when realised he’d started getting billed for dumping on private property was going to be priceless. 

”There’s enough here to build your own plane, if you wanted.” She commented with dry humour, sipping her milk.

”Yeah.” Jake said fondly, turning his attention back towards the present. He grinned at her. “I did. You wanna go see?”

Callie nearly spit her milk out over the car they were standing next to. “Jake!”

He laughed, setting the milk on the car hood and motioned for her to follow him. While he’d love to take her down to the hanger and give her a proper look at the Turbokat, and all the gadgets and weaponry he was working on, he couldn’t. 

Deputy Mayor Briggs had to maintain some sort of resemblance of plausible deniability when it came to the identities of the masked vigilantes, the Swat Kats. Even if she did figure it out upon their first appearance. 

That had been an interesting phone call. 

They were probably pushing it as it was, her coming out every couple of months to the garage to see them in a professional capacity for them to do maintenance on her car, but they weren’t exactly overwhelmed with friends to talk to. Although he was pleased to see that she and Feral’s niece, Felina, had seemed to hit it off.

He led her through the labyrinth of piles of junk, smiling to himself as he did so. “It’s kind of tucked away, so no one accidentally stumbles upon it.” He commented, glancing back just in time to see her flinch slightly, before following with a determined expression that warmed his heart. The fact that she continued to trust him wasn’t something he was going to easily betray.

“One last corner here.” He finally called out, mindful of the fact that she was wearing heels. He’d seen her run and fight in them, but it didn’t mean they had to be comfortable. Usually he’d take a more circumvent route to get here, but since Chance was still out cold, he didn’t need to worry about it so much at the moment. He led her to a patch work tarp covered lump and pulled it off. “And… ta-dah!”

He beamed at the jaw-dropping look of surprise on Callie’s face when she saw the plane he was working on. “Is that…”

“A Megawar II Fighter Plane.” He beamed. “Almost entirely made of original parts, salvaged here at the yard. I’ve had to tweak a few things to get her up to code safety wise, but otherwise she’s almost pristine.”

“Oh my goodness, Jake.” She walked up to the plane, running her fingers along one of the wings. “She’s beautiful.”

Chance loved planes, with a particular passion for the beginning of the aeronautical age. And while Jake often times wished for the tape of ‘The Greatest Dogfights of Megawar II’ to suddenly experience a rapid disintegration, watching it always cheered Chance up. 

Which is why when he’d found an miraculously intact engine and buried under a pile of ancient salvage, he’d immediately known what he was going to do with it. 

“Got a couple more weeks of work before she can go up for a test run.” Jake grinned, following after. “Still need to register her and all that, but she’s almost done. Just in time for Chance’s birthday.”

“That’s a heck of a present.” She murmured, then paused, giving him a knowing look. “Jake?”

“You know how I am with people.” He muttered, jamming his hands in his pockets, ducking his head down, shoulders bunching up until they were nearly brushing his cheeks.

Callie had always been good with people. She could read people, be able to make new friends in minutes, a knack Jake had never picked up. And she could make people listen to her, just by walking in the room. She had a _presence_ that he could only emulate a bit, and usually only as Razor. 

He’d always been too short, too scrawny, too awkward, too smart to fit in really. Having a biting, sarcastic sense of humour didn’t help much either. Hiding and hanging back had always worked better for him. 

Words, words were often hard too. If there was a way for him to stick his hind paw in his mouth, he’d do it at the worst possible time. Not that Chance was much better some days, but he could usually charm his way out of it, where as Jake was left stuttering. 

He didn’t always remember to say the important stuff either, like he trusted people, or he loved people. He tended to show it in things he made, letting his creations speak for themselves.

Like giving Callie the Swat Kats communicator, or building her a car that worked as a portable bunker to keep her safe from nearly everything.

It was getting easier, between becoming a Swat Kat, and not having to deal with people every day, thanks to the isolation of the garage. It was also easier, with Chance at his side, knowing that the larger tom had his back. 

Not that Callie didn’t, but it was different with Chance. 

He kicked at the dirt with one foot. “I’ve never had anyone like a brother before.” He muttered defensively.

Jake and Callie had been only children, and ended up as each other’s siblings. They’d been allowed unsupervised in each other’s bedrooms as teenagers, something that wasn’t allowed the few times kats of opposite genders had come over. 

Chance had a lot of siblings, mostly brothers, growing up rough and tumble with them. The few times Chance had dragged Jake over to his house for holidays, Jake was always taken back by how _physical_ they were, patting each other around the head and shoulders, pouncing and mock-wrestling with each other. 

It would have been harder to deal with if Chance didn’t do it all the time with him. He'd thought Chance was unusually tactile until he realised that it was Jake’s own perception that was strange. Most kats grew up in litters of siblings, it was Jake’s experience was the odd one. 

They’d butted heads with each other when they’d first met in Enforcer Trainer, him thinking Chance was brainless, Chance thinking he was too brainy. That had never really left their interactions, the frequent contests they had, pushing each other to their limits, and past that. 

He didn’t know how to express his gratitude to Chance for doing that. For sticking by him, for challenging him to be better, for… just being there. 

Jake felt a light touch on his arm and found Callie smiling at him, her expression soft. “I’m glad.” She said quietly, and he felt his own expression melt. 

Callie… Didn’t have anyone like that. She didn’t have someone like Chance, and because of the whole Dark Kat incident, Jake couldn’t be that person for her anymore. The Deputy Mayor couldn’t be seen with a disgraced, exiled Enforcer. 

The best they could do for each other now was save each other’s backs, and these little stolen moments. 

He took her hand, his large fingers engulfing her delicate paw and gave it gentle squeeze. Her smile wrinkled, like she was trying to smile through a frown, and squeezed it back. 

It was enough. It had to be. 

Callie sighed, her shoulders slumping tiredly. “I should head back.” She said, sounding like she didn’t want to. 

“The busy life of the Deputy Mayor.” Jake quipped dryly, offering her a smile smile. He relaxed his hand a fraction, but when she didn’t let go, he held on. “There’s a spare room here if you ever need some place quiet to crash.”

Callie gave a small laugh. “I may take you up on it sometime.” She promised as they turned and started walking back, clasped hands swinging idly between them like they used to when they were small. “I certainly wasn’t expecting this crazy of a work load when I took the job.”

“Heh.” Jake smiled. “Considering how little work Manx does, ever consider running for Mayor?” 

She’d make a good one. Same responsibilities, more underlings to help, and the power to do things without having to get the cowardly Mayor’s permission first. 

It’d probably make things easier for her. 

“Believe me, it’s crossed my mind.” She muttered darkly and he chuckled. 

“Well, you’ve always got my and Chance’s support.” He assured her, pondering how legal it would be for the Swat Kats to back her bid for Mayorship. If Feral got snippy about it, could always argue that if the Enforcers were effective, the Swat Kats wouldn’t be needed. 

Harsh, but true. The Swat Kats were the giant fly swatter that came down on anything the Enforcers couldn’t handle. 

Which was an unfortunate lot. 

“Thanks, Jake.” Callie bumped her hip against him. “That means a lot.” 

“Anything you need, Callie.” He promised. “You know that.” 

“Yeah.” She said, her features relaxing. “I know. You too.” 

He nodded, knowing that as well. They had each other’s backs. 

The walk back to the garage was silent, no more words needed between them, just happy to have each other’s company for a little while. 

It was over too soon, releasing each other’s hands at the door to the garage, Callie stepping in to collect her briefcase. Jake checked on Chance while she did, finding the big lug still snoring on the couch. Scaredy Kat was winding down, Litterbin would be on shortly. He turned down the volume a little bit, still loud enough that the lack of noise wouldn’t wake Chance. 

“He looks better.” Callie commented quietly, and he caught the unspoken ‘than when you flew off’. 

“Yeah.” He smiled. Sometimes he really didn’t know what he’d do without Chance. 

Chance twitched, one eye opening. “Ngh?” 

“Nothing, Chance.” Jake assured him. 

Callie’s lips puckered mischievously. “Go back to sleep.” She urged. 

“‘Kay.” Chance muttered, eyelid closing again as he rolled over, melting into the sofa. “‘Night, Miss Briggs.” 

Callie attempted to muffled a laugh, which came out as an undignified snort that made Jake smile. He motioned with his head for them to leave, and she nodded, quickly leading the way out. 

“That was mean.” He grinned at her as they approached her car. He’d be willing to bet in the morning that Chance would mention about the pain killers making him hallucinate. 

She giggled unrepentantly, then pulled him into a tight, brief hug. “Night, Jake.” She said, stepping back. “I’ll see you later.” 

“Night, Callie.” He waved, fighting a blush. “Get home safe.” He urged. 

She nodded once, then climbed into the car, starting it up and driving away. He watched until her headlights were out of sight before walking back into the garage, debating doing some work on the Turbo Kat tonight. 

Their lives weren’t where they thought they’d be when they’d be growing up, but he wouldn’t trade it for all the fish in Megakat City either. 

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title and chapter titles from the song '[When I grow up](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlVuu0nhiUw)' by Garbage. 
> 
> Watching the show, I've often had a thought that Callie knew exactly who the Swat Kats are, given her flirty familiarity with Razor, her talking about the good mechanics she takes her car to when T-bones drives it, and the fact that she's got the communicator at all. 
> 
> And this came out of it. Started the first chapter as a oneshot in 2008, and it was on hiatus until [Rinpin started drawing the Swat Kats](http://rinpin.tumblr.com/tagged/swat-kats) and *ahem* _hinted_ that ficcage would be great, and suddenly it's a multichapter fic that I have no idea where it's going. But it got me started writing again, so yay?


	2. When I grow up, I'll turn the tables

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [I don't even know](http://ickaimp.tumblr.com/post/128574615325/status-of-the-ickas-writing).  
>  I thought the fic was over, nice little one shot, boom, done. And then we sat down and wrote this out in a few hours last night.

“Jake and Chance's Garage." Chance said idly as he picked up the phone in one hand, muting Scaredy Cat with the remote with the other. “Chance speaking.” 

“ _CHANCE!!_ ” Jake’s exuberant voice nearly deafened him and he pulled the phone away from his now ringing ear. “We just had the best… The best idea EVER for a mayoral slogan!” 

“... Jake?” Chance ventured. He was flying solo tonight because Jake was out hanging out with a friend. Although now he was wondering what his partner was actually doing. 

“ _BRIGGS IT!_ ” Jake cackled like a hyena. “Like… Like ‘Bring it’, but _Briggs_ instead!” 

“Are you with the Deputy Mayor?” Chance asked, confused. Why was Jake talking about Miss Briggs?

“Noooo.” Jake drew the word out, then hiccuped. “Wait. Are you the Deputy Mayor?” He asked someone on his end of the phone. 

“Not currently.” Miss Briggs said tartly, her voice slurring. “Oh! Is that Chance?! HI CHANCE!” 

“Hi, Miss Briggs.” Chance said, feeling as if he’d just fallen down a portal to another dimension. Maybe he had. In his line of work, it was hard to discount. 

“Chance! _Take a Chance! Take a Chance! Take a Chance!_ ” Miss Briggs started warbling in the background. “Oh! That’d make a good slogan too. _Take a chance on me~ I’ll be next in line~!”_

Chance ran a hand down his face, muttering a quick prayer for patience. “Jake? Where are you currently?” He asked through gritted teeth. “And why is Miss Briggs singing Catta?” He hadn’t previously thought of Miss Briggs as the type of person to listen to Catta, really. 

“Callie’s place.” Jake hiccuped. “You wanna join us? There’s still plenty of… Hey, Callie! What is this stuff again?” 

“Free Booze!” Miss Briggs cheered, and Chance could hear some sort of glasses clinking. “We are classy mofos!” 

“Yes! That!” He could hear the grin in Jake’s voice. “You should totally come. And bring pizza. With lots of sardines.”

“I prefer anchovies.” Miss Briggs grumbled in the background, her voice fading as she walked away.

“Fine, _anchovies_.” Jake drawled sarcastically, before turning back to the phone. “You know the building. Just bring the pizza and tell the doorman ‘Simon Said’.” 

Chance rose to his feet, casting around for where he’d put the car keys for the tow truck. He debated masking up and taking a cyclotron, but if he needed to get the two obviously inebriated kats somewhere safer, he’d need the extra seats. “Simon said what?” He asked, finding the keys. 

“Simon said to bring a pizza!” Jake cackled gleefully, and he could hear the faint sounds of Miss Briggs’ laughter as well. 

Chance rubbed the bridge of his nose. Oh, boy. “Stay where you are, Jake. I’ll be there shortly.”

“‘Kay.” Jake said happily. “And don’t forget the pizza.” 

“I won’t.” He promised, debating pros and cons of forgetting the pizza. Little Kaesars had that five dollar deal, that would probably work. “I’ll be there in a half hour. If you need anything, you can get me on the communicator.” 

“But it’s our night off!” Jake protested. 

“Yes. Which is why you and Miss Briggs are going to stay where you are, so I can come and join you. With pizza.” 

“Sounds good.” His partner agreed. “See ya soon, Chance!”

“ _Take a chance on me~ Gonna do my very best~_ ” The sound of Miss Briggs singing again was the last thing he heard before the phone line went dead. 

Chance took a deep breath and wondered how fast he could drive into the city without getting pulled over by an Enforcer. There was no way any of the officers were going to believe this.

* * *

Weirdly enough, the code phrase worked. Chance was waved up without more than a second look, and he took the elevator on up to the top most floor. It was a little awkward to realise that he knew where the Deputy Mayor lived, although he had never been there before. 

He knocked on the door and waited, his tail twitching. “It’s open!” Jake’s muffled voice called. “Come on in, Chance!” 

“Just so long as you aren’t singing.” Chance grumbled as he warily opened the door, glancing around for anyone attempting to jump him. There wasn’t, but there was Jake and Callie sprawled out on the couch together, Jake putting the safety on a blaster. 

Chance shut the door behind him and stared. “What are you doing?” Both of Jake’s feet were in Miss Brigg’s lap, the she-kat leaning over them with a look of concentration on her face. She was out of her suit for a change, dressed casually in a simple t-shirt and what looked like a pair of short boxer shorts, her long legs visible for the first time. 

“Painting nails.” Jake said easily, putting the blaster under a pillow next to him, then made grabby motions towards the pizza. “I already did Callie’s so it’s my turn now.”

“Don’t move or I’ll pinch you.” Miss Briggs warned, dipping the brush into a small bottle and carefully applying the polish to a sharp claw. Jake dutifully froze. 

“Nail polish, huh?” Chance glanced around, but he couldn’t hear or see anyone other than the two. And a lot of bottles of what looked like mass produced champagne. 

“Yup, it’s for... scientific experimentation.” Jake assured him, slowly reclining against the back of the sofa, so as not to disturb Miss Briggs. “We did Kevlar coatings last time, this time we’re trying Teflon. See what works best, bullet proof or non-stick.” 

“I punctured holes in my desk with the Kevlar. That was a great day.” Miss Briggs said cheerfully, putting the brush back in the bottle and closing it. “The Mayor didn’t request anything of me once. Ooh! Is that pizza?!” 

“With anchovies, as m’lady requested.” Chance set the pizza down on the table, the other two kats quickly moving to clear a spot, before grabbing slices and chowing down. 

“Mmm. Perfect.” Miss Briggs purred, pulling the slice of pizza away so the cheese stretched between her mouth and the slice. “‘Ank oo.” She muttered, with her mouth full. 

Jake laughed at her, tearing into his own slice. “Next time.” Jake swallowed, then rubbed his mouth with the back of a paw. “We gotta remember to order food in advance. You never keep anything here.”

“I’m never home long enough to keep food around.” Miss Briggs chided, lifting her legs up and draping them over Jake’s, their limbs tangling in a way that spoke of casual intimacy. She yawned. “And it was kind of last minute this time. Cancelled function, hence the free booze, remember?” 

“Oh, yeah.” Jake laughed, then let out his own jaw cracking yawn. Chance belatedly realised that Jake had stripped down to his undershirt and jeans, showing off his well defined shoulders. Jake had the best shoulders of any kat Chance knew, he just didn’t show them off very often. “Man, we gotta get more mutual downtime more often. It’s been ages.” 

“Agreed.” Miss Briggs nodded, then turned her attention towards him. “Aren’t you going to have any pizza, Chance?”

“Uh… sure.” Chance hesitantly reached into the box and took a slice, feeling a bit off-balance with her acting like she already knew him. “So… um. What was up with the whole ‘Simon Said‘ thing with the doorman?” 

The Deputy Mayor knew T-Bone and Razor. Not Chance Furlong or Jake Clawson. 

Except, watching Jake poke her leg and laughing when she made a face at him, he had to wonder how much she knew about his partner. And vice versa. She certainly hadn't blinked at Jake having a blaster in his hand when Chance opened the door. 

“Like someone looking to cause trouble is going to know the passcode to say at the door.” Jake snickered. “They’d make up some sort of random excuse, rather than play a child’s game. It was mine and Callie’s idea, but pretty much everyone’s adopted it.” 

Miss Briggs nodded, her cheeks bulging out from her mouth stuffed full of pizza like she was a teenager on their first bender. 

Chance hadn’t argued when Jake had come up with the idea to give the Deputy Mayor a way to contact them. She was smart as a whip, and had a tendency to run towards danger instead of away. The fact that she was one of the prettiest kats he’d ever met was just an added bonus. 

Except now, watching the two of them tangled up on the couch eating pizza, he was wondering if there was more behind Jake’s choice than he’d let on. 

“Want something to drink?” Jake asked, motioning to the champagne bottles laying around. “Or there’s water. And coffee. Callie was out of clean glasses, so we're drinking out of mugs. That was fun.” 

“I need to do dishes too.” Miss Briggs wrinkled her nose with disparaging air. Jake laughed at her and she snickered back. “Oi.” She poked him with a tiny bare foot. “Invent me something to do the dishes.”

“Already done.” Jake snarked back, slapping playfully at her foot. “It’s called a _dishwasher_. Lazy.” 

“M’not.” She glared at him. “Just… busy.” 

“We’re all busy.” Jake mocked her. “And we still manage to get the dishes clean.” 

“Mostly because Jake insists on it.” Chance offered, somewhat amused with the byplay.

“Yeah, but there’s two of you.” Miss Briggs sighed. She poked Jake with her foot again. “You could always move in with me.” 

“Then what would Chance do without me?” Jake wanted to know, reaching for another slice. 

Miss Briggs thought about it. “I suppose you could move in too.” She finally informed Chance with a great deal of dignity. 

“Thanks.” Chance chuckled. 

“You should move in with us instead.” Jake grinned, like it was the best idea ever. “I built us a giant hot water heater for unlimited hot showers, and we’re far enough away from the city that the Mayor would have to give you more time off. Even if the commute is a pain without a fighter jet.”

Chance stared at Jake, his heart pounding in his chest. Did he really just-? 

“Yeah, but then Mom would want to know if we finally got married.” Callie wrinkled her nose. “She found that old contract of ours and sent a copy to me.” 

Jake groaned, looking pained. “Did you tell her we’re already married?” 

“You are?!” Chance blurted. He’d never known that! 

“Well, yeah.” Jake shrugged a shoulder. 

Miss Briggs leaned forward and swatted at Jake. “Don’t be mean.” She scolded before falling back against the couch arm. “To our _jobs_.” She told Chance. “We’re married to our jobs.” 

Jake cackled. “Yeah, but the look on his face.” He wiped his eyes in mirth, beaming at Chance. “Sorry, bud. Totally worth it though.” He said unrepentantly, and Chance rolled his eyes. 

“We drew up that contract when we were, like… what? Fifteen? Sixteen?” Miss Briggs waved it off. 

“Either way, we were underage, so it’s not legally binding.” Jake said cheerfully, grabbing a bottle and pouring the contents into a mug. He glanced up at Chance with a smirk. “Relax, it’s water. We switched over when little Miss Catta here couldn’t remember how to waltz properly.”

… Which was an image that was going to haunt Chance now, the two of them dancing together. He wondered if they took turns leading, then shook his head. 

“Which means we’re to the ‘Why did I drink so much, I’m gonna regret it in the morning’ portion of being drunk.” Miss Briggs agreed, then yawned. She picked up a mug from the table and held it out to Jake, who dutifully filled it for her. “Should probably go to sleep soon. You staying?” 

Jake shrugged. “Dunno yet.”

“‘Kay.”

“So what’s this about a contract?” Chance asked, drawing the subject back to them possibly but maybe not being married. There were a lot of questions currently buzzing around his brain, but that one seemed the one currently most likely to be answered. 

Jake and Miss Briggs glanced at each other, making little ‘you or me’ hand gestures before Jake took up the narration. “We made of those deals where if either of us isn’t married by 30, we’ll marry each other.”

“Which Mom then had to point out that I’m closer to 30 than a teenager.” Miss Briggs sighed, pushing her glasses higher on her nose. “It probably would be politically advantageous to be married upon going in for running for Mayor.”

“Manx isn’t married.” Chance pointed out. 

Miss Briggs shrugged it off. “He’s also old.” 

“And marrying me would be political suicide.” Jake pointed out, taking a sip of water before his expression turned cunning. “You could always marry Feral.” 

She rolled her eyes at him. “Pass.” 

Jake laughed, bright and easy, and Chance felt something in his belly flip. Jake tended to find a lot of things amusing, but it wasn’t often that Chance heard his partner laugh without some sort of sarcastic edge to it. 

“You finish eating?” Miss Briggs nudged Jake, who held up his hands, wiggling his fingers to show off how clean they were. She peered at his fingers for a moment before nodding, and draining her mug and setting it on the table. She untangling her limbs from his and stood up for a moment, before turning and sitting back down between Jake's legs. 

Jake hummed, setting his mug down on the table and began running his hands through her thick blond hair. 

Chance swallowed, wondering not for the first time what it would be like to be allowed to touch those golden strands. “So… um. I’m guessing you’ve known each other for a while?” He ventured. 

“You could say that, yeah.” Jake smiled fondly as he started to separate out chunks of hair at the top of her head and twisting them together. 

“Hmm. Somewhere about pre-K.” Miss Briggs agreed, tilting her head back and purring softly as Jake french braided her hair. “Mom’s got photos somewhere for blackmail purposes.” 

“Your mother has photos of everything somewhere for blackmail purposes.” Jake teased, before glancing at Chance. “She’s an avid scrapbooker. It’s all artistically and tastefully preserved.” He explained. 

Chance nodded, slightly relieved. So not entirely a nefarious blackmailer set on ruining their lives. Well, depending on how they looked at it. 

Jake chuckled. “Hey. Remember prom?” 

“You said you’d let me forget it.” Miss Briggs grumbled, then glanced at Chance. “He set the sound equipment on fire.” She grumbled. 

“I was trying to fix the sub-woofer! It’s not my fault the wiring was not up to code!” Jake protested, and Chance chuckled. “I’ve learned from my mistakes!” He not-quite wailed. 

“Mostly.” Chance agreed mildly, unable to resist teasing. “You haven’t exploded anything you haven’t meant to in a while now.” 

Miss Briggs laughed. “You two have the _best_ job.” She confided, tilting her head forward as Jake got towards the bottom of the braid. “I don’t get to blow anything up on purpose.” 

“That’s cause you’d blow up the Mayor’s golf cart.” Jake scolded, holding out a hand and wiggling his fingers. She grumped at him, not refuting it as she pulled a hair band off her wrist and passed it to him. He took it, finishing off the braid. “You should come out to our place sometime for practise. We got lots of stuff to blow up out there. Could even say it’s weapons training, because of how hazardous your job is.” 

“That’s true.” Callie agreed, leaning against Jake, the back of her head resting on his shoulder, as she reached up with one hand to run her nails through the fur at the back of his head. Jake closed his eyes, lowering his head so it was resting on hers, purring softly as he wrapped his arms around her, the two of them comfortable with each other. 

Chance swallowed. He’d never made it a secret that he had a bit of a crush on Miss Briggs. Anybody meeting her would be crazy not to, she had the whole package, brains, beauty, and bravery. But he’d always had more than a bit of a crush on his partner too, for the exact same reasons. 

That, he worked a bit harder to hide. Some kats took it wrong if they discovered that you didn’t have a preference for a gender, like you had to pick one or the other. Jake _probably_ wouldn’t care if he found out, but Jake also didn’t register anyone was flirting with him unless it was with mallet level force. 

And here were the two people on the planet he was most attracted to, tangled up with each other. 

He wasn’t sure if he should curse or bless his lucky stars. He was torn between wanting to watch over them for a little while, or if there was a way for him to join them on the couch and snuggle with both of them. 

He didn’t know what it said about him that he’d be happy with nothing more than that, just platonic cuddling. 

Jake yawned, his jaw cracking open, baring long sharp white teeth. “We should get to bed.” He muttered, making Miss Briggs startle. She yawned as well, and stretched, her long golden limbs going every which way. 

“Yeah.” She grumpily agreed, looking sour at being kicked off her preferred napping spot. She ran a hand over her braided hair, then stood up. “You’re both welcome to stay.” She offered. 

“Probably a good idea for me, don’t want to leave the car here if Chance drives me home.” Jake agreed, stretching as well, his flexible long back arching in a way that always caught Chance’s attention. “Chance?”

“I should go.” He said, getting to his feet. Before he did something that’d he’d regret, like see if he could get all three of them to share the bed to sleep in. “Someone should mind the garage. In case duty calls.”

“Duty is going to bed, as well she should.” Miss Briggs informed him, wobbling slightly. She leaned down and kissed the top of Jake’s head, causing the tom to blush slightly, before standing back up again. “Night, Chance.”

“Good night, Miss Briggs.” Chance said dutifully. 

“Call me Callie.” She smiled and waved. “At least while I’m off duty.”

Chance nodded, throat suddenly tight at the priviledge he’d never thought he’d have. “Good night… Callie.” 

She gave him a fond look and gave him a wave before disappearing down the back hall. He could hear a door shut, most likely the bathroom if the running water was any indication. 

“C’mon, I’ll show you out.” Jake said, slinging a companionable arm around Chance’s shoulders. It didn’t work as well as when Chance put an arm around Jake because of the whole height difference, but that was okay too. It was kind of grounding, and he was grateful for it. 

“For the whole two steps.” He snarked, biting his tongue on asking if Jake would be sharing the bed, or sleeping on the sofa. It wasn’t any of his business. Really.

Jake laughed. It was a bit closer to his normal bite, but still calmer than usual. “Thanks for coming, buddy.” He smiled, a lot of the tension he usually carried around free from his expression. “You’ve introduced me to your siblings before, I’ve been wanting to properly introduce you to mine.” 

“It’s a bit of a shock.” Chance admitted. “Does she-?” He trailed off, not sure how to ask if the Deputy Mayor knew that they were wanted vigilantes or not. 

Jake smirked, looking knowing and Chance had a feeling that Miss… that Callie had known from the very first time someone had taken a photo of their faces. Specifically Razor’s. 

“I’ll explain everything later.” Jake promised, opening the door. 

“You’d better.” Chance growled, only half playfully. “And I expect you before noon, we got cars to work on.” 

“Yeah, yeah.” Jake waved it off, looking satisfied. “Hangover free, or as close to it as possible.” 

“As long as it’s safe for you to drive.” Chance corrected sternly. “Call me if it’s not, and we’ll arrange for something.” They drove a tow-truck, for goodness sake. 

Jake looked at him for a moment, jaw slack. Then he smiled, the corners at his eyes wrinkling up fondly. “Thanks, Chance.” He said softly, bringing his other arm up and hugging Chance. 

Chance hugged him back, hands clenched into fists against Jake’s back to resist the urge to do something stupid, like hang on.

Jake hadn’t been that physically demonstrative when they’d first met. He hadn't mind pats or casual contact, but he didn’t offer it much either. That had changed as they’d gotten comfortable with each other, but Jake initiated hugs were still rare. 

“Anytime, buddy.” He promised, then released the smaller kat. “See ya in the morning.” He said, stepping out into the hall quickly, before he did something further to embarrass himself. 

He made sure to listen for the door to shut and the locks to initiate before pressing the elevator button down. He signed, leaning forward and pressing his forehead against the wall as he waited for it to arrive. 

He had some thinking to do, before Jake got home in the morning. 

-fin-


	3. Chapter 3

“You wanna permanently get rid of the Swat Kats? Fine.” Razor growled in Commander Feral’s face, the finely dressed upper echelon of Megakat City gathering around. “Then you do it **properly**. None of this chasing us, no shouting 'arrest them', no 'give me chopper back-up'. You wanna get rid of us? You make the Swat Kats _obsolete_.” 

Next to Callie, she could see Ann Gora urging Johnny K to get a closer view of the tuxedo-clad masked vigilante.

She’d known that having the Swat Kats at the gala where she was announcing her candidacy for Mayor was going to be a gamble, but up until now it seemed to be paying off. 

Until Feral, who had previously declined the invitation, had shown up and things quickly escalated. 

T-Bone stepped up behind his partner, crossing his massive arms across his chest, showing off arm muscles bigger than Razor’s head. The pilot didn’t say anything, just silently backed his partner. If it turned into a fight, the vigilantes had multiple escape routes already planned out, but she hoped that wouldn’t be necessary. 

“And _what_.” Feral growled, using his height to loom over the smaller Swat Kat. “Is **that** supposed to mean?” 

“Exactly what it sounds like.” Razor snarled back, showing off his impressive teeth. “T-Bone and I, we’re not the cause of your problems, we’re a _symptom_. If the Enforcers could handle everything you claim you can, this city wouldn’t _need_ the Swat Kats to save it. The only time we come out is when there's something the Enforcers can't handle!"

Belatedly, Callie realised even the orchestra stopped playing, a pin drop could almost be heard in the room. 

“The attacks are escalating.” Razor threw an arm out, gesturing towards the city below. “I bet you’ve crunched the numbers too. It used to be every couple of months, and now it’s almost a miracle if a week goes by without something trying to destroy the city. If the pattern continues as they have been, there won’t be much of Megakat City left to protect.”

Feral drew in a deep breath, almost a growl, squaring his shoulders for another barrage. “Mayor Manx-”

“Spends most of his time golfing.” Callie cut in, her voice making several of the people around her jump. Felina, who had gleefully stepped up to be T-Bone’s ‘Enforcer Escort’ and chat with the pilot about flying, appeared at Callie’s side, silently handing her her briefcase. Callie flipped it open with one hand, grabbing several prepared sheets. She handed one to Ann Gora. “Crunch the numbers if you want.” 

It wasn’t like it was terribly hard to get the information from the Country Club, when Mayor Manx booked a round of golf. Or two. Or three. 

“Also, the Mayor has this odd habit of signing anything that’s on his desk without reading it.” Callie smirked, stepping forward and holding a different sheet of paper in Feral’s face. “Such as a 24 Hour blanket Immunity for the Swat Kats.” 

Feral snatched the paper out of her hand, crumpling it as he held it close to his face to read it. “I can’t arrest them.” He realised, with dawning horror. It was signed, dated, and notarized. Callie had made it as legally binding as she could.

“For another…” Razor made a show of checking his wrist, which was gloved and didn't actually have a watch. “22 hours and some odd minutes.” Long enough for them to attend the gala, and get home without fear of reprisal should things run long. 

T-Bone idly glanced at his claws, the sharp edges shining. “You’re just lucky we’re the good guys.” He smirked. 

Feral’s face turned an alarmingly unhealthy shade of red. 

“It could have just as easily been a pardon and permanent immunity.” Callie quietly pointed out. “In fact, it could have been a lot of things, which is how a lot of grants and bills are being passed right now, because as Deputy Mayor, I have other duties than guarding his desk from people putting random things on it to sign.” 

She smiled, showing her own fangs. “As Mayor, I intend on being a lot less lenient.” 

Callie had meant to make a more formal announcements up on stage, under the glittering lights, but this worked too. 

The silence seemed to echo for a moment, her words rippling through the air. 

And then came back like a roar, slamming into her with the force of a crashing wave, amplified with intent and excitement. 

For a moment, the adrenaline surging and buoying her up, it was almost like she could see the path to Mayorhood lighting up in front of her like a bright golden ribbon stretching out in front of her. 

And then the moment passed. 

T-Bone and Razor backed up a step, disturbing the crowd, which parted for them. “If you’ll excuse us, there’s a party to get back to.” Razor said, with a small tilt of his head. 

“I heard the lobster canapés are good.” T-Bone agreed with a too light hearted tone, the two of them walking away. Callie caught Felina following them out of the corner of her eye, still on Enforcer duty. 

Feral crushed the immunity paper in his hand, his claws ripping holes in the material. “Until later, _Miss_ Briggs.” He growled, then executed a perfect heel turn and strode off, in the opposite direction of the Swat Kats. 

Callie waited until he had left the room before giving a small sigh, relaxing her shoulders. “Wow.” Ann Gora said quietly behind her, Callie she glanced over to find that Johnny had the camera aimed at her. “That’s a heck of a way to toss your hat in the ring.” 

“If Megakat City is going to survive, we need to change.” Callie said firmly, adjusting her glasses. “And an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” 

Ann Gora made a thoughtful sound. “Good slogan.” She decided, then turned back to the camera. "You heard it here first on Kats Eye news! Deputy Mayor Calico Briggs is running for Mayor. More on this later! But first, let's see if we can't get an interview with Commander Feral about what he intends to do about this challenge the Swat Kats have just thrown at him!" 

Johnny K flashed Ann a thumbs up, then the two of them were off and running after Feral. "What a scoop!" Ann all but cheered as she went. Callie watched her go, noting that people were talking and circulating again. 

She hadn’t meant to use that as her slogan, but whatever worked. 

Callie made her as way as quickly as she could in the direction she’d seen the Swat Kats go, mingling and making small talk as she went. Manx’s habit of running in the other direction when trouble struck had not gone unnoticed and she got several promises of support, which she filed away for later. 

She made it out to the balcony which they’d chosen earlier as a get away point. Felina was leaning by the door, quietly sipping her drink as she nonchalantly guarded it. The other she-kat gave Callie a tiny smile and a small head tilt towards the door. 

“Thanks.” Callie murmured quietly, grateful for her friend's oversight. Felina watching their backs hadn't been part of the plan. 

Felina chuckled. “You’ve got my vote. T-Bone and Razor have saved my tail a couple of times. Anything you can do make my job safer, I’m all for it.” 

Callie smiled weakly. The Enforcers had one of the highest mortality rates of any job in the city. The numbers of people applying for the job kept dropping as things got worse, and they were having trouble keeping people in the field at all. 

Having better safety equipment helped, but keeping monster attacks down would be the biggest help. 

“Any ideas you have for that, let me know.” Callie patted Felina on the shoulder. She was going to need people on the ground to advisor her, let her know what was really going on. 

And for as hard as Commander Feral worked, she wasn't sure she could trust him. 

Feline smiled, turning her attention back to the party around them. "I might have a few." She murmured quietly as Callie opened the door to the darkened balcony and stepped out. 

She nearly stumbled as she did so, coming to a stop as she stared at her best friend. 

Callie had surprised them with the tuxedos, and they’d protested that their flight gear worked just as well. But she’d been adamant. If it was one thing she’d learned in her time of climbing up the political ladder, was how much appearance counted. 

Swat Kats in full battle gear would put everyone on edge. Swat Kats in formal wear… More than their appearance, that was an oddity enough to get people talking. 

It also made them more normal, approachable. Proof that they were kats, just like everyone else. Although she had made sure that their red triangle on a blue background motif was preserved on their bow ties.

The same dark blue as the dress she currently wore, tieing them visually together without a word needing to be spoken. 

T-Bone looked like a powerhouse in his suit, deep chest, broad shoulders, and muscular limbs. He insisted he looked like a goon, or a gorilla, like his clothing was going to rip off him if he moved wrong. It wasn’t, she’d made sure that the suits were tight enough to show off their finest assets, but the fighters could move freely if they needed. 

Razor on the other hand, looked sleek and dangerous, like a blade. The tighter clothes emphasized the leanness of his frame, and the grace in which he moved. 

He was currently leaning against one of the pillars outside, head tilted back as he took a moment to collect himself. He’d removed the bow tie, undoing the top buttons of his shirt, the collar popping slightly. With the light from below, the whiteness of the shirt stood out, framing the long line of his neck, the sharp angle of his cheek and jaw under the black mask.

He looked like he was ready to be ravished, strong and vulnerable all at once. 

“He has no idea how he looks.” T-Bone muttered quietly, just barely soft enough for her to hear. 

“Never has.” She whispered back, just as quiet. Callie glanced up at T-Bone’s face, catching a look of naked _want_ on his face. He noticed her, and shifted, covering it up with the more guarded expression the vigilante usually wore. 

… Oh. 

“Sorry about that, back there.” Razor said, straightening up, and running a hand over his masked head, fiddling with the knot for a moment. “Have I mentioned how much I hate public speaking?” 

Frequently, when they were younger. 

“I think you might have done me a couple of favours.” Callie assured him with a grin. She was pretty sure they'd just served a coup as the opening move. 

Both toms snorted at that. “Yanno, when I said we’d support your bid for Mayor, this is not quite what I had in mind.” Razor grumbled. 

Callie laughed. She was sure he’d meant something more along the lines of campaign funds, or talking her down from metaphorical ledges when the mudslinging heated up. 

“Oi. Next time, speak for yourself.” T-Bone grumbled, play biting. “And leave me out of it.” 

She was about to rebuttal when the door opened, bringing in the light from the Ballroom. “Ann Gora, from Kats Eye news!” The reporter’s voice chirped, the cameraman at her back, shining a light on them. Felina a followed, looking apologetic. “Coming back to you live with the Swat Kats.” 

Both kats quickly straightened and stepped closer to each other, not quite battle ready but close. Ann shoved her microphone in their direction. “Earlier you mentioned to Commander Feral about the possibility of the Swat Kats becoming obsolete and unneeded." She barked off, probably hoping to get better information by catching them unaware. "Do you have any plans for if the Swat Kats should retire?” 

“Well, uh.” T-Bone stammered, stepping back. Razor stepped forward, blocking Ann's path to both his partner and Callie as he did so. 

“Should the possibility of retirement come up, T-Bone is still the best gosh damn pilot out there.” He spoke up with surety. “And I’m still an engineer. And with all that free time, well, I’ve always wanted to know how fast we could go when we don’t have to deal with gravity.” Razor said, a bit of shyness creeping in. 

T-Bone grinned. “We built the Turobkat ourselves, and gotten up to Mach 8 in her.” He added, catching Razor’s thought and expanding it. “Who's to say we can’t get go past Hyper Sonic and go Ultra Sonic? Heck, see if we can't break the speed of light?” Razor traded an affectionate look with him. 

“So I guess what I’m saying, is that we’d kinda like to picnic on Mars someday.” Razor grinned. "Outer space was fun."

Ann Gora stared at them for a minute, her mouth open. And then she caught herself, giving a small shake. “Alright folks, you heard it hear first.” She announced to the camera. “This is Ann Gora, Kat’s Eye News.”

Johnny K turned the camera off and flashed them a thumbs up. “Sorry about the surprise.” The camera kat said quietly.

“Kind of expected it.” T-Bone grumbled, looking annoyed. 

“Figured it was worth a shot.” Ann shrugged. “The Swat Kats plans after retirement is a scoop, but the Swat Kats unmasked would be even _bigger_.” She said with a feral looking smile. 

It was one of the things Callie both liked and disliked about Ann, was the fact that she was all about the story. Sometimes it was useful, sometimes it was not. 

“Speaking of which, Deputy Mayor Briggs.” Ann turned towards Callie. “Out of curiosity, what exactly is your _relationship_ to the Swat Kats that you could get them here tonight-?” 

Both Swat Kats let out a low warning growl at the insinuation. 

“And you know what? We’re done here.” Felina announced, shooing the reporters out of the balcony. “You can ask the Deputy Mayor about her _campaign_ later.” Ann and Johnny K went, Felina shutting the door after them, and leaning against it to prevent against any further interruptions. 

Callie sighed. “It’s not an unexpected question.” She said, adjusting her glasses. The fact that she and the vigilantes had at least a passing acquaintance was public knowledge. 

Felina shrugged. “Didn’t like her tone.” 

T-Bone and Razor nodded, agreeing with the Lieutenant. Callie shook her head, trying not to smile at their show of support. 

“And seriously, guys?” Callie asked, arching an eyebrow up at them. “Space?” 

T-Bone shrugged, his ruffled fur metaphorically and literally smoothing down. “We like to fly fast.” He said philosophically. 

“And you know me.” Razor grinned gleefully. “Always searching for the bigger and better boom. That’s really all a rocket ship is.” 

“Speaking of booms, do you need us for anything else, Miss Briggs?” T-Bone asked pointedly, silently implying that there shouldn’t be anything else. 

“I think we’re good.” Callie nodded. “Thanks for your help, guys.” 

“Sweet.” Razor pulled a remote out of… somewhere on his tight suit and pointed it over the edge. The whine of the Turbokat’s engines filled the air, the jet gracefully lowering herself to hover next to the balcony, the canopy open and waiting.

T-Bone grabbed Razor and threw him over one shoulder. Razor yelped, protesting the treatment as T-Bone threw them a sloppy salute. “It’s been real.” The larger tom announced, then jumped over the balcony railing and onto the waiting plane. 

“You knucklehead!” Razor shouted as he was deposited into his seat, the canopy sliding closed over their heads. “I’m short-sheeting your bed tonight for that move you jerk!” 

T-Bone’s reply was lost as the jet quickly shot up into the sky, and away from the glamour of the gala below. 

The silence on the balcony was almost a shock after the noise of the past few minutes. Felina broke the silence with a sarcastic drawl. “And there went the _Saviours_ of Megakat City.” She motioned, clearly unimpressed.

Callie laughed. “Oh, I’m definitely making you my Police Liaison.” 

-fin-


	4. Chapter 4

Chance looked around the end of the pier he and Miss Briggs were sitting at, the Mayoral candidate disguised with a scarf covering her distinctive hair and sunglasses, then down at the fish and chips they were eating. He thought about it a moment, then spoke up.

"Is this a date?" Cause it kind of felt like one. Isolated setting, dressing up, or at least not in working clothes, chatting and getting to know each other. 

Also, flirting. He'd flirted with Miss Briggs before, for almost as long as they'd been Swat Kat, but she'd always either ignored it, or shut it down. She was playing back currently, which was fun, but confusing. He couldn't tell if she was serious about it or not.

Miss Briggs smiled, nibbling on a fry. "Do you want it to be?" She asked, green eyes sparkling.

Chance thought it over. He'd never really thought he'd actually have a shot at dating her, between whole secret identity thing, and her not being interested in flirting back. Although she did seem to be amused by it, which was why he continued. It was fun to flirt with a pretty she-kat.

But Miss Briggs was Jake's... Something, and the idea of dating her now felt oddly like cheating on his partner with his partner's... Something. 

"I'm... not sure." He finally settled on. If nothing else, the past few months with her campaign had reminded them all that Miss Briggs _was_ a politician. 

Miss Briggs tilted her head to the side, then nodded as if it was a fair answer.

"Mostly what I am though." He pointed a ketchup covered fry in her direction. "Is confused."

Mostly as to why she invited him here. Not her 'best friend' Jake. Not a Swat Kat. Him, Chance Furlong, disgraced Enforcer and current mechanic. 

Miss Briggs sighed, looking down at her food for a moment, listlessly poking at the fries. "I invited you out to talk, because Jake loves you."

Chance felt frozen in his seat, his heart beating loudly in his chest. "No, he doesn't." 

He’d been afraid of this, that it had to do with his little slip-up at the gala, her catching Chance looking at his partner, like he wanted to eat Jake up. There were lines to friendship, and wanting to lick or nibble on someone's neck tended to cross over a lot of them.

"Not like you do, no.” She shook her head, a sympathetic look on her face. Her expression turned distant, thoughts turning inward. “I don't think Jake's ever been interested in anyone like that, actually.” 

The closest Chance could remember was the Pastmaster had sent them back in time, the hearts in Jake’s eyes while dealing with Queen Callista. But now he had had seen Jake and Miss Briggs drunk and hanging all over each other, he wondered if it wasn’t more that spending time with the Queen was the closest Jake had been able to get to his friend in a long time. Or if the Queen had a 'Sir Razor' in her time period that she was now missing.

It still hurt, the fact that Jake had never told him that he and the Deputy Mayor were long time friends. And not only that, but the Deputy Mayor knew their secret identities. And probably had known so from the beginning. 

He’d thought… After everything they’d been through, Chance had thought that there weren’t any secrets between them. _He_ didn’t have any secrets from Jake, certainly. Jake had the uncanny ability to notice and spot them all, while apparently concealing whatever Jake didn’t feel like sharing. 

His tail lashed, smacking the rough wood of the pier, and it took a moment of concentration to get it to stop. 

“Just because he loves differently doesn’t mean he loves us _less_.” Miss Briggs’ sharp tone brought him back to their conversation. 

‘Us’...? 

“You?” He ventured, surprised. She was in love with Jake too?

MIss Briggs shook her head, grabbing one of the breaded filets of cod, and ripping it half, faint puffs of steam escaping. “Maybe, when we younger.” She admitted with a shrug, tearing a smaller piece off to pop into her mouth and chew. Not anymore. 

Chance let out a heavy sigh and nodded. So it was just him with these stupid non-platonic feelings then. 

A light touch on his hand made him startle, and he looked up to find Miss Briggs giving him a small crooked smile. “But he doesn't built airplanes for just anyone."

For an inane moment, he thought she was talking about the Turbokat, and then he remembered Jake's present to him, just last month. A restored Megawar II Fighter Plane, which Jake had already named ‘Fighting Chance’. 

One of the few times in his life, Chance had been speechless. They’d immediately had to take the plane out flying in the mountains. The old plane didn’t have quite the same speed or agility as the TurboKat, but she was still a joy to fly. 

Partially because as much as he loved the Turbokat, they usually only flew her to test equipment, or because someone needed saving. There was a fierce joy in piloting the Turbokat, and always would be, but it was different flying for the sake of flying. 

Feeling the wind in the whiskers, nothing but the blue sky above them… It was freedom. It was almost everything he’d ever craved since he’d first looked up at the vastness of the sky which seemed to go on forever and wish to leave the earth behind.

And Jake had given him that. 

“Or build massive armored vehicles disguised as clunkers.” He smirked, raising an eyebrow at her. Once he realised what he was looking for when it came to maintenance, it was obvious that her sedan was Jake’s work. It’d been a mystery he’d ignored then, but made more sense now, with context. 

Miss Briggs smirked back, giving a small salute with the cod. Touché.

Chance chuckled, finally reaching for his own food for the first time, and eating a fry. It didn’t stick in his throat as he’d feared, and he started eating, with a lot less enthusiasm than usual. 

“It’s actually…” Miss Briggs started, then stopped, her shoulders slouching as she stared at the table, a distant expression on her face. Chance made a questioning noise in the back of his throat, uncertain if he should push or not. 

She finally pushed the glasses up on her face, making a face. “About a week before you came over to my place with the pizza… I made excuses so I could get out of town for a little while, and went to the garage.”

Chance blinked, unable to remember seeing her there recently. Miss Briggs smiled and shook her head. “You were a sleep at the time, Doctor Viper had attacked…”

Oh. He startled. _Oh._ He’d been laid out the next couple of days, until his shoulder healed. Jake had tricked him into taking some painkillers and he’d pretty much slept until dawn. 

Once again, not something he’d really thought about at the time, but in retrospect…

He jerked his thoughts away from that dark trail, grateful when Miss Briggs started talking again. “It was the first time in ages since I’d had a chance to actually talk with Jake.” Miss Briggs said, smushing a fry into the small plastic container of malt vinegar. “And the thing is… He’s _happy._ He’s really happy where he is, with you, with everything.” 

Chance felt his ears turning red, blushing in delight at hearing that. He hadn’t really been sure. Jake seemed happy enough, but give him something to tinker with and he was happier than a small bird with a french fry, so it was hard to tell in the larger scheme of things. 

Miss Briggs seemed to realise that she was turning the fry into mush and set it aside with sigh. “On the drive home… I realised, I’m not.” She said, sounding tired. 

He opened his mouth, then closed it, not sure what to say. Usually when someone drooped like that, he’d put a hand on their shoulder, give a nudge, _something_. But she was on the other side of the table, and… well, that was complicated. 

“The party cancellation the next week was just lucky, and the fact that Jake was free.” Miss Briggs continued, one claw tapping on the table. “It wasn’t until I woke up with him drooling on the pillow the morning that I realised it’d been over a year since I’d been able to spend more than a few stolen minutes to chat with my best friend.” 

The bitterness of her tone was just enough to keep him from dwelling the fact that they had shared the bed that night, although he was probably going to go back to that later. 

Miss Briggs laughed, dark self-mocking edge to it. “Even the nail polish, he’d sent me the kevlar one in the mail via a proxy last Christmas, because he didn’t want his ‘tarnished’ Enforcer reputation to hurt mine if anyone caught the address.” 

“Yeah, but…” The words caught in Chance’s throat. Life… After Feral had dismissed them on public broadcast, they hadn’t been able to go anywhere for months without people recognising them as the idiot pilots that destroyed Enforcer Headquarters. 

It’d became easier to just stay in the Salvage Yard than have to put up with the leering and jokes about them blowing up any other government property. It was changing as people forgot, other attacks taking precedence. 

Enforcers didn’t forget though. The tow truck had been pulled over more times than he cared to think about for stuff like the tail light being out when it wasn’t. It was one of the reasons he prefered his ‘short cut’, no matter how much Jake complained about how bumpy the unpaved road was, there wasn’t a reason for any Enforcers to be on a road no one took. 

Miss Briggs continued, not hearing his stuttering protest. "And I realised.. What kind of person ignores their best friend because of _politics_?!" She spat the last word out, a mixture of scathing hatred and sobbing laughter.

That, he knew the answer to. "One doing they best they can to get by." 

He'd lost a lot of former friends in the fall out. Enforcers who couldn't be seen with him, in case they were thought to be sympathisers. Schoolmates, casual drinking buddies. Invitations to events dried up and disappeared. Even some family members wouldn’t talk to him, after ‘he’d disgraced them’. 

Except for Jake. 

Jake, who had looked through Chance's comic books, the dreams he'd had as a kid of being a hero, and made it happen. Returned them both to the sky, bigger and better than before.

It wasn't all for Chance's sake, he knew. Jake was a worse adrenaline junkie then Chance was, he just hid it better behind that shy facade. But if there was danger, or a chance to blow something up, Jake was the first kat you'd find there, Chance scrambling to cover his tail.

And he wouldn't trade that for anything. 

Miss Briggs stared at him for a moment, then gave him a grateful smile, reaching up to wipe her eyes. "Thanks." She said, voice thick. "I think I've been holding that in for a while." 

Chance shrugged one shoulder, feeling shy. "I get it." He said simply. 

Sometimes he had words that needed to get out, in which case, Jake was always there to listen. She didn't have that. 

"So missing Jake is the reason you ran for Mayor?" He ventured after she'd take a breath and seemed to have some of her control back. 

"Yes and no." Miss Briggs ripped her fish into shreds, munching on it. "More like the final straw. I'm tired. I'm tired of doing most of Manx's work, then treated as if I'm nothing more than eye candy for the camera. I'm tired of these attacks, of Megakat City being destroyed, and people being hurt, losing their lives, their families, and their homes." 

She looked up at the skyscrapers of the city, a thoughtful look on her face. "I've always loved the city, what it was supposed to represent." 

What it hadn't in a while, he silently acknowledged. Sometimes he wondered that the magnificent city he'd see when he was a kit was all in his head, or if it'd fallen that much from grace. 

"Me too." He agreed. 

They shared a look of mutual... something, before looking down at their food. Chance bit into the fish, which had gone a little cold. It was still pretty good though. 

“How long have you known about us?” Chance finally asked, gesturing towards his face, the question having bothered him for a while. 

Miss Briggs didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “As a government official, elected or otherwise, I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She smiled, looking amused. “As someone who grew up along Jake-?”

“So, from the beginning then.” He said, unable to fight the grin at finally having confirmation. She hummed cheerfully and nodded, making him chuckle. 

Brains, beauty, and bravery. The whole package, right there. 

Longing twisted in his gut and he swallowed it down. Life would be so much simpler if he wasn't attracted to such amazing kats.

Be a lot more boring though.

Miss Briggs seemed to read something on his face, and leaned forward, elbows on the table, fingers twined together. “I care a lot for Jake. He cares a lot about you. And… I think we could like each other too-?” She offered with a tentative smile. 

He thought it over, what she was saying. Both their best friend was Jake. And while part of him wanted to fight her over his partner, push her away from them, they’d probably end up hurting Jake in the process.

And a lot of that was the fear that she’d push Chance away from Jake, for this stupid crush of his, for doing something _inappropriate_. He wouldn’t, but that didn’t stop the thought from making his gut roll. 

It wouldn’t be hard to maintain the status quo either, but… When it came down to it, he didn’t have a lot of friends. Not any more. Jake didn’t seem to mind their solitude, but Chance had always been around people, and it kind of hurt, not having anyone else around. 

And he did like Miss Briggs. Having a chance to know her better wasn’t exactly a hardship. 

“I think we already do.” He grinned. Miss Briggs smiled back, her entire face brightening up, like he’d just given him the best gift ever. 

“Yeah.” She agreed. 

They grinned like idiots for a moment, and he filed the thought away to tell Jake about this later, because his partner would never believe it. 

“We’ll have to arrange these lunch dates for the two of us more often, once I’m Mayor.” Miss Briggs said, adjusting her glasses. 

He nodded in agreement, his mood souring slightly at the reminder that her time was about to get very busy. 

Then he beamed at her, waggling his eyebrows. “So…” He playfully leered. “This _is_ a date.”

She stared at him for a moment, mouth open and unmoving, before she laughed and threw a fry at is head. He grabbed it before one of the gulls could and shoved it in his mouth. 

So it wasn’t quite what he hoped for, but it wasn’t as bad as he feared, and he maybe had a new friend.

He could live with that. 

-fin-


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rinpin: THEY NEED TO KISS  
> Icka!: WORKING ON IT  
> Rinpin: OR AT LEAST GET REALLY CLOSE  
> Icka!: -this count?

Kats with stripes were frequently stereotyped as a throwback to a time when their ancestors needed to blend into their surroundings in order to effectively hunt their prey. “Civilised’ kats supposedly did not have stripes, having grown out of that primitive need. 

As such, striped kats were known for being meaner, stronger, and dumb. It was something that Chance had to struggle against, proving that he wasn’t too stupid to be a pilot or a mechanic, like the stupid generalisation that because Callie was blonde meant she was an airhead, or Jake’s own diminutive and stature meant that he was weak.

The rage however… There was something to be said about that. Jake didn’t know if other striped kats wrestled with their temper as much as Chance did, but there were rare times when the larger tom got so angry that words became impossible.

Jake sidestepped Chance's lunge, using the larger tom's momentum to continue him on his way. He took a deep breath, reminding himself to stay calm, focused, and centered. 

And to ignore the way the hairs stood on the back of his neck at Chance's wordless howls of outrage.

Chance was big and strong, having a much larger reach than Jake. However, Jake was used to being the little guy, shorter and scrawnier than everyone around, and knew how to use his speed and agility to his advantage. 

As long as he kept a cool head on his shoulders. Chance had never hurt him when he was like this, but Jake wasn't going to give him that opportunity either.

They were supposed to be sparring, like they did on a regular basis, keep them in fighting trim for when the city needed rescuing. As with most of what they did together, it was usually a competition, but his buddy seemed to have some worked up issues to get out of his system. 

Which meant that Jake was focusing more on staying out of Chance's way, and wearing him out. 

Which wasn’t always as easy as it looked. Even an angry Chance was still a smart Chance, and Jake knew to keep his distance when the claws came out. If this had happened while on the field, he would have been using projectile weapons and sniping from a safer range. 

Claws were another thing ‘civilized’ kats did not use, most kats having theirs filed or worn to nubs. When T-Bone showed off his strong sharp fangs and claws, short sleeves displaying the stripes on his arms, it was usually an intimidation tactic that sent most sane kats running. 

It wasn’t all intimidation however. Chance had the muscle and the mass to back those claws up and do a lot of damage. Which is why Jake usually used such a display as a distraction to take down their opponents with his weaponry before the temper kicked in and their opponents _felt_ how strong those claws were. 

Fortunately, Chance seemed to be wearing down. It was taking longer than Jake would have liked, he was running out of steam too. 

Hopefully there weren’t going to be any immediate attacks, it was going to take a little while to recover from this round. They hadn’t gone this all out in a physical fight for a while. 

Finally he spotted Chance stumbling a bit, a lag on a turn, and struck. On the next lunge, he grabbed Chance’s outstretched arm and tripped his larger partner, sending Chance face first into the mats. Jake moved with the motion, twisting Chance’s arm behind his back, one knee between his shoulderblades to keep him down. 

Chance growled, a low feral sound deep in his chest, the claws of his other hand digging into the mats. But he didn’t try to jerk away, knowing what would happen to the limb if he did from their time at the Academy. Neither of them wanted the pilot completely out of commission for the week it would take to heal up and the bruising to die down from a dislocated shoulder. 

That, and Jake would feel terrible about hurting his best friend that way. He’d do it, but he’d feel guilty about it for ages. 

“You good?” Jake asked, completely prepared to let Chance go and leap away if Chance needed to keep going. 

The growl faded into a menacing rumble, then died down for a moment before coming back. Jake waited to see if Chance would become verbal again, or if any communication was going to be in snarls for a bit. 

Finally Chance took a deep breath, and let it out, tense muscles relaxing as the large tom stopped fighting. “Chance-?” Jake ventured. 

“I’m good, Bud.” Chance mumbled, his voice distorted by his face being mashed up against the mats. 

“Affirmative.” Relief rendered him boneless. He meant to slide off of Chance, but ended up straddling across his partner's torso, legs on either side of the broad back, one hand still holding Chance’s arm, just no longer at a dangerous angle.

They were both breathing kind of hard, Jake being lifted up and down with every time Chance breathed in and out. The thought flickered across his mind that Chance could comfortably wear him as a backpack if he so chose, and he ignored it, like he had many similar thoughts before. 

He focused on the back of Chance’s head, wondering what was going on in his partner’s head. He hadn’t really expected this when they’d decided to spar this afternoon. 

Chance’s ears flickered, twitching in his direction and Jake swallowed. He wanted to lick Chance's ear, and the back of his head, groom the fur with his tongue until his partner was a purring lump of goo.

But they were civilised kats, and grooming the old fashioned way was frowned upon. Only kittens could get away with comforting that way, driven by instinct instead of logic. And Jake was enough of a freak as it was, without adding that to the mix. 

Showers. Showers were definitely going to be needed after this. They were both kinda stinky, fur sticking in clumps because of sweat. 

He reached up, fingers brushing the line of Chance’s cheek, across the scent glands. “What brought that on, buddy?” He asked quietly. 

Chance tensed, a low growl rumbling through him before fading away as he relaxed again. Jake pulled his hand back, waiting. 

“The whole thing with Callie…” Chance said quietly, Jake straining his ears to hear. "It's just... We're best friends, Jake. We're suppose be _partners._ And partners don't keep secrets like that from each other." 

The defeated tone in Chance's voice made Jake's chest ache. He leaned forward, resting his forehead on the round curve of Chance's large solid shoulder. "I'm sorry." He said quietly, but no less sincerely. "I didn't think it'd ever be an issue since we hardly got to see each other." 

"Yeah, well...." Chance let out a heavy breath, his back rising and falling. "Makes me wonder what other secrets you've been keeping." 

Lots. Lots and lots. Jake turned his head, rubbing his cheek against the soft material of Chance's t shirt, marking it and mixing their scents together. That wasn't exactly socially acceptable either, but he felt better for it. 

Especially since Chance didn't even assume that Jake only had the one secret. 

"I've been patenting and selling defensive and protective gear through a lawyer out of town." Jake mumbled. "Not only to the Megakat City Enforcers, but out of state too. And using the profits to buy the salvage yard and finance our crime fighting." 

Chance made an odd noise in the back of his throat. "Yer kidding." 

"No. I could show you the papers if you want, the property is in both our names." Jake had a feeling that his lawyer thought he and Chance were married, given some of the polite inquiries to 'his partner's health’ whenever they got in contact. 

He thought that Chance would probably forgive him for not mentioning that part.

"Wait, so... You're rich?" Chance ventured, his voice a vulnerable mixture of disbelief and confusion. 

"Not really." Jake shrugged. "More like ‘kinda well off'-?" Most of the money was tied up in their property, anyway. It wasn't like he had cash swimming out of his ears. Fuel and electricity for the Turbokat and the hanger weren't exactly cheap either, even with attempting to supplement the latter with solar panels.

"Huh." Chance thought about it, then tugged on the arm Jake was holding. Jake released him, expecting to get pushed off, but Chance merely put his paw under his chin, getting comfortable on the floor while he thought. 

Jake decided against moving. He probably should, it was the polite thing to do, but Chance was warm and comfortable, and he didn't really want to get up just yet. 

It wasn't often that he could steal moments like this, enjoying the feel of being pressed against another kat, knowing that the physical contact was safe. 

"What about our Enforcer debt?" Chance spoke up, the money they owed always a sore spot for him. 

"Feral arranged to take it out of the pay we earn at the garage." Leaving them with just barely enough to live off of, if that's all they had to support themselves. Not that they needed much that the salvage yard couldn't provide, thankfully. "There's nothing in the paperwork about earning money elsewhere, only that we'd encour jail time for not fulfilling expectations at the garage." 

“So we couldn’t pay it off, even if we wanted to.” Chance rumbled, annoyed. 

“Would we want to?” Jake pointed out. “Where would we go? It’s not like we can up and move the hanger.” 

Well, they probably could, but it’d take a good several months to relocate everything. 

Chance huffed. “Point.” He didn’t sound entirely pleased about it.

Like it or not, for better or worse, they weren’t going anywhere for a long long time. 

Still, for something that was supposed to be a punishment, it hadn’t worked out too bad. They had a lot more freedom than they’d ever had before, and a life that other kats could only dream about. 

Jake reached up and flicked one of Chance’s ears, watching it twitch. “We good?” He asked, just a little worried. 

Chance took a deep breath, Jake rising up, then falling back down. “Got any more secrets I should worry about being sprung on me?” He asked. 

“Nope.” Jake shrugged. He wasn’t precisely lying. Anything else he had no intentions of Chance ever knowing. 

Chance liked girls. And even if he didn’t, Jake wasn’t interested in a lot of the things that came with a romantic relationship. Chance loved him as a brother, and that was good enough for him. 

“Then we’re good.” Chance shrugged, jostling Jake slightly. 

“Cool.” Jake breathed in relief, relaxing. He didn’t like it when they fought, the small schism between them. 

He didn’t want to regain one friend, only to lose the other. 

They lay there in silence for a while, their breathing slowly synchronizing. Jake felt himself drift off slightly, then jerked back awake. They should do some stretching, cool down the muscles, and hit the showers. “I should get off you.” He mumbled, then yawned. 

“I don’t mind.” Chance rumbled, sounding half asleep. 

Oh. Well then. Jake relaxed again, rubbing his cheek against Chance and closing his eyes, lulled by his partner’s warmth. It wasn’t like anyone was going to stumble upon them down here.

Whoever said they had to be civilised anyway? 

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Started re-watching episodes, and was noticing in the ' Bride of the Pastmaster' that Callista has a habit of touching Razor on the cheek.  
> Then I thought about my own cats, and where their scent glands are, where they rub to mark 'this is mine'. Cheek, front pads, tail, and butt.  
> -Obviously some are more socially acceptable than others. >_>  
> The stripes and claws thing is my own extrapolation. I think Chance might be the only kat in the series with stripes. (or at least thus far)  
> Also, ever notice that no one in Megakat City is surprised by the existence of magic?


	6. Chapter 6

Commander Ulysses Feral was having a not very good day. 

If he were to be honest with himself, this was merely the latest in a string of not very good days. Which were in turn, had turned into of a line of not very good years, so that was nothing out of the ordinary. 

Except for possibly how extraordinary his not very good days were. It wasn’t just the small, mundane things. Such as the inability to get a cup of coffee in a temperature warmer than tepid. Or the litterbox always being out of paper. A surprise shower soaking him while he didn’t have an umbrella. 

No, each one of his extraordinary bad days was unique, a different kind of headache with similar elements that consistently showed up. 

Today, for example. He had finally gotten rid of one pain in his side. Manx was finally stepping down as Mayor. The old tom had been a good leader at one point, Megakat City growing and flourishing under his regime. 

And then he’d slowly stopped being a leader, letting his duties, his city, fall to the wayside. A new person had been needed for a while, and that had finally happened. 

A larger pain in his side, Former Deputy Mayor Calico Briggs, stepping up. Now Mayor Briggs, after the Metallikats were found tampering with ballot boxes, attempting to quite literally stack the ballots in Manx’s favour, and summarily lost in the resulting scuffle. . 

This being Megakat City, there had been little chance of that happening normally. He’d had planned for every eventuality he could think of. Assassination attempts, bombs, rioting, he was set. 

Giant seven story tall giant kraken, not so much. 

The Pastmaster made a grand entrance on the back of one seconds after Briggs swore in as Mayor, attempting to grab the now Mayor, calling her his ‘Queen’. 

The thrice cursed Swat Kats had stepped in, blasting the Pastmaster with their concrete gun, freezing the time lord in his steps, unable to move to trigger his temporal abilities. An extremely large unlikely net snared the squid, the vigilantes flying off with a wave to the new Mayor. 

Leaving behind a cursing Pastmaster for the Enforcers to handle, and a golden crown on the podium. Dr. Abby Sinian recognised the daidam as the long lost crown of Queen Callista. Ann Gora and the local citizens had gone crazy, and now the new Mayor had a new nickname. 

Queen Callie. 

It made Feral want to cough up a hairball. 

“Are you alright, Commander?” Mayor Briggs asked, one eyebrow arching above her glasses in concern.

Briggs was not going to be as likely as Manx to look the other way and let things slide, which meant that Feral’s job had just gotten that much harder. 

“Just fine, Mayor.” He lied smoothly, attempting to put a pleasant smile on his face. And failed, if Briggs’ expression was anything to go by. 

Feral sighed, faintly pleased when the limo they were riding in slowed, approaching the Mayor’s apartment complex. Briggs having chosen to eschew the Official Mayor’s Residence, which Manx had yet to move out of. 

It was a move that was proving surprisingly popular among the citizens, since they didn’t have to pay for an opulent residence, but at the same time, it was a security logistical nightmare for the Enforcers. 

They could theoretically protect the building, and prevent those who shouldn’t be in the building out, but there was little they could do to protect the Mayor from any threats already inside. 

He gave it until the first giant monstrosity attacked her apartment building before she moved to somewhere more defensible. 

The fact that a giant monstrosity attacking the city was pretty much inevitable said much about his stress levels. 

“Allow me to escort you to your door.” Feral rumbled, putting one hand out to prevent her from opening the car door by herself. It was dark, it was late, and at the very least, he had a reputation to maintain of being a dutiful civil servant. 

And possibly that of a gentleman. 

Briggs narrowed her eyes for a moment, then nodded, relaxing back into her seat, wrapping the long dark blue coat she was wearing around her. Feral nodded in return, stepping out and checking the area for any potential threats to the new Mayor. The area was quiet, almost suspiciously so. 

Feeling slightly paranoid, he held his hand out for her to take. She did so, glancing around the street as well with narrowed eyes, as unsettled as he was by the lack of pedestrians and street traffic. 

With brisk steps, he walked her to the front door of the apartment complex, pausing only to open the front door, only to catch the shadow of something falling from the corner of his eye. They both jumped back, something heavy impacting where they had been standing, sending them both to the ground, sharp debris striking them. 

“Are you alright Miss…” He quickly corrected himself. “Mayor-?” He rumbled, getting to his feet and pulling out his weapon, glancing up above. There was nothing aside from a creeping shadow, and a hole where a large stone brick had rested. 

“I’m fine.” Mayor Briggs said, rubbing her head, then putting the hood to the coat up, hiding her light hair, and making her less of a target He grunted, taking her upper arm to help lift her to her feet, sharp shards of masonry falling away. 

“We should…” He paused in suggesting a hospital in case any of the pointed stone had punctured her fine clothing, realising that the cloth under his hands was not the delicate wool he was expecting. 

“This is made out of same material as the Enforcer suits.” He rumbled, surprised. Now that he was looking closer at it, he could see what he had thought were decorative elements were patches of enforced armour, most noticeably around the vital areas of her chest and abdomen. He could feel it along the outer parts of the arms under his hand as well. 

The aramid fabric itself was frequently used for bullet resistant vests, which had similar extra padding for vitals, as well as firefighting and racing suits, due to its fire retardant properties. 

The Mayor wasn’t wearing a fashionable coat, she was wearing _disguised body armour_. 

“Two generations more current than the current Enforcer gear, actually.” Briggs said, with a slightly self conscious brush of her hand across the front of her coat. “A gift from a friend.” 

She glanced at the stone that embedded in the sidewalk, then up at the building with a narrow-eyed look, and for a brief moment, he wondered if her glasses had some sort of special ability built in as well. “Interesting timing.” She murmured, removing her arm from his grip. 

“Pardon?” He inquired.

“Nothing.” She said, her tone distantly polite. “Thank you for the escort. I think I can take it from here.” 

“You’ve just had a threat on your life-” He protested, but she was already moving, stepping briskly inside the building. 

Feral sighed. That certainly could have gone better.

He stared at shattered rock for a moment, then where the unscathed new Mayor had went, dressed in armour fit for both the battlefield and the board room, an uneasy feeling in his gut that his bad day was about to get worse.

Dark Kat was not going to like this. 

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> My mundane job deals with the military, thus I deal with nomex clothing a far bit. Nomex, or [Aramid fabric](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramid) really is interesting. It's very strong and durable, flame retardant, reasonably water resistant, and while not particularly breathable, I'm currently working on making myself a jacket out of an Air Force flight suit to wear on my motorcycle, since it's good at preventing road rash in the event of going down. 
> 
> More on Feral and Dark Kat later, I think a wild plot has appeared...


	7. Chapter 7

"Yes, Mayor Briggs?" Razor's breathless voice answered the communicator. In the background, she could hear T-Bone's muffled complaints, most likely due to Razor's hand or foot over his mouth. 

"Razor." Callie said pleasantly. "The Swat Kats wouldn't have anything to do with the new signs outside of Megakat City, would they?" 

"What signs?" Razor asked, his voice practically sparkling with innocence. 

"The billboards posted on top of various transmission towers, radio antenna, and mountain sides that read 'You Must Be At Least This Tall To Invade Megakat City'." 

The ones that happened to be taller than when Doctor Viper had made himself huge in order to mutate the city. 

A moment of silence followed. The kind of silence that happened when someone had their paw over the receiver while they attempted to keep from laughing. 

"Gosh, Mayor. We don't know anything about those." Razor finally said, his voice wobbling unstably.

"I see." Callie drawled, trying to keep her own smile off her face. "Well, in that case, I don't know who would have done it. I can only hope that it turns out to be effective." 

"Us too, Mayor Briggs." Razor said, his voice cracking comically. In the the background, she could hear T-Bones muffled snickers. 

"Alright. Carry on. Briggs out." She said, ending the call, but not before she could hear both kats busting their sides laughing from their hideout.

She leaned back in her chair and finally allowed herself a moment to laugh over it. 

Not that she'd tell them it, in case it encouraged more hare-brained schemes, but the damnest thing was that it'd already worked. 

A rampaging monster had stopped, looked at the sign, and then turned and sulked off in the opposite direction... 

-fin-


	8. Nothin' left to talk about

“Don’t be such a big baby.” Jake scolded from the passenger seat of the towtruck, the corner of his mouth curled up in a smug smirk. 

“I am not.” Chance snarled, adjusting his white knuckled grip on the steering wheel. 

“Are too.” 

“You take that back.”

Jake chuckled. “Make me.” He quickly corrected himself before Chance could remove his hands from the wheel. “-After the dentist appointment.” 

Chance growl deep in the back of his throat, the hair along his spine itching where it was puffed up and rubbing against his shirt. Which only added to his irritation. 

He bit back the comment that he didn’t need to go, because it was Chance's own complaining that his tooth hurt that prompted Jake to schedule the visit in the first place. 

When it hurt too much to eat ice cream, it was time to do something about it. 

Still, Chance hated the dentist. With the shots and the drills and the pain. 

Also, he may or may not have punched out a dentist years before he met Jake. There was blood and screaming, and it was all kind of hazy. He mostly remembered being barred from ever seeing that dentist again and feeling strangely both proud and ashamed of that. 

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ll be right there.” Jake said quietly. “I got your back, yanno?”

Chance took a deep breath, feeling himself calm down and settle. “Yeah. I know.” He admitted. They had each other’s backs, both inside and outside of the Swat Kats.

They finished the rest of the ride in silence, finding a decent spot to park the tow truck. He walked around the truck, making sure they were well within the parking space and not blocking anything or anyone while Jake fed the meter, putting extra time in, just in case. 

Their truck was kind of distinctive. 

They walked the half block to the dentist, Jake walking closer than usual, enough that their arms brushed ever so often, like he was silently checking on Chance. Part of him was kind of annoyed, he could take care of himself _thank you very much_ , but the rest of him was reassured by the contact. 

He kind of wondered what Jake might do if he took Jake’s hand, the two of them walking arm in arm down the street. Then he dismissed the thought, bringing his attention back to the present. 

Jake opened the door for him, glancing inside and scoping out the layout for possible threats and exits before gesturing Chance inside. Chance found his lips quirking at the reaction, although he did a similar sweep himself as he stepped in first, Jake following at his back. 

Chance hesitated for a second before stepping up to the counter and introducing himself. The receptionist took his name, handing him a clipboard to fill out and motioning for him to take a seat and fill it out. 

They did so, Jake pulling a book out of somewhere and reading it with an absent-minded air as Chance filled out the usual boring information. The last they’d been in was about a year ago, for a cleaning, 

Cleanings weren’t so bad, he didn’t like them, but he could deal with them. There was no drilling into body parts that weren’t meant for drilling. 

He filled out as much as he could remember, then passed the clipboard over to Jake, who glanced over it, then added a few more details before handing it back. Chance nodded, then took it back up to the receptionist, who smiled, showing off a flawless set of bright white teeth and instructed him to take a seat, that they’d take him back in a few minutes. 

Chance nodded and sat back down next to Jake, nervous now that he didn’t have anything to focus his attention on. He glanced over at Jake, noticing the book looked a little small for his partner’s usual mechanical manuals or scientific journals. “New book?” 

“Ah…” Jake didn’t quite blush, but his ears flattened slightly in embarrassment as he tightened his grip on the well worn pages. “I think Callie and I got our ‘light reading’ mixed up.” 

Chance chuckled, picturing Callie’s reaction to some of the stuff that Jake considered light reading. The mechanical manuals weren’t bad, and helpful for repair work, but the theoretical mathematics and physics were enough to put him to sleep. “So what’d you get? Ancient law?” 

“Um…” Jake’s response was lost as Chance’s name was called. He swallowed, a jolt of nervousness shooting through him as he stood up. He felt a brush along the inside of his arm, a firm squeeze at his wrist, and he glanced over to find Jake looking blandly impassive. 

He chuckled. “Mind if my buddy comes?” Chance asked, motioning to Jake. 

The dental assistant checked the clipboard, no doubt finding the ‘extremely nervous about the dentist’ and ‘Former Enforcer’ notes and nodding. 

Lot of former Enforcers didn’t cope well with pain or things that surprised them. Kind of came with the job environment. 

They walked into the back, Chance trying not to show his nervousness as he realised that the dental exam rooms didn’t have windows for easy escapes. If they needed to leave fast, they’d have to make it past the rooms, through the corridor, and out the front door with very little cover to hide behind. 

And they’d left the weapons in the truck. 

Jake brushed his arm again, and he relaxed slightly at the reminder that he had someone at his back. 

Right. Not a fighting situation. Just the dentist, who was not actually trying to hurt him. 

… Unless they were a minion of Dark Kat or something like that. 

No. Just a dentist, a normal dentist, and if they weren’t, he and Jake could take them down. He’d seen Jake kick through brick before, he could make an exit if need be. 

Heck, it wouldn’t surprise him if Jake had a mini-explosive or two on him. Chance could take care of the dentist and the assistant while Jake made a path for them to escape out of. 

Battle plan in mind, he felt a little better about the impending doom. They could handle this. 

He squared his shoulders as the assistant motioned them into the room, with the x-ray machine, chatting quietly about why he was in today, taking his blood pressure, putting him in a lead apron and explaining what was going on to take the x-ray. Jake stayed in sight, answering questions when Chance fell silent, nodding or shaking his head to the questions.

The plastic piece they put in his mouth cut a bit into the roof of his mouth, and the cannon looking thing they aimed at his head made him a bit nervous, but a quick press of a button and the they had the x-rays they needed on the screen. 

From there, the apron was taken away and they were taken to one of the exam rooms, where there was an extra chair at the foot of the dentist chair for Jake to sit. Which he did, putting the chair to the wall and sitting so he had a clear view both Chance and the doorway, guarding Chance’s blind spot. 

Jake tilted his head to the side, silently asking if Chance was okay, and he nodded back. A lot better than if his partner wasn’t there. 

The assistant puttered around, setting up until the dentist came in, greeting them in a jovial tone, and pulling up the x-rays onto a screen in the exam room, clearly showing the chipped tooth that was causing pain. 

Not deep enough for a root canal or a crown, thank goodness, but enough that they were going to have to do a filling. 

Which meant drilling. 

Chance swallowed his nervousness down, fingertips digging into the reinforced ends of the chair arms. Jake gave him a small reassuring smile and Chance braced himself as they numbed the gums with a bitter tasting chemical on a q-tip. 

Jake talked about their upcoming schedule at the garage while his his jaw and part of his tongue slowly went numb. It was something that Chance already knew, but it worked to distract him a little bit. 

At least until they injected a further numbing agent into his gums. He had to touch his nose to make sure it was still there, half of his face feeling strange, like it was made of rubber. He knew it was there when he opened and closed his mouth, but he couldn’t _feel_ it. 

Jake faltered, running out of garage things to talk about, and Chance shot him a commiserating glance. There were plenty of things the two of them talked about, the problem was that there wasn’t much they could talk about in front of other people.

“Why don’t you read your book out loud?” The assistant suggested, their tone helpful. 

Jake glanced down at the book he was carrying, and his ears did that little flattened embarrassed twitch. “Um…”

“We all love a good story.” The Dentist added. 

“Yeah, Jake.” Chance grinned, ignoring the way his face felt. 

“Alright.” Jake sighed and shook his head as the dentist chair was leaned backwards, the light adjusted to shine into Chance's mouth. He could hear Jake clear his throat and start to talk. “-The lusciously lovely Lola Longtail was carried away in the arms of the heinous Sheriff Fuckebythenavele of-"

"Pardon?!" The Dentist, who had been testing the drill and about to put it in Chance’s mouth pulled their hands free. "Sheriff _what_?!"

"Fuckebythenavele." Jake repeated. "I think it's German. I'm not making it up, really. Look." Chance could barely see the from the corner of his vision Jake offering the book to the assistant, who wheeled over and took a glance.

"That's... Really what it says." They announced, sounding surprised. 

"Alright right then." The Dentist shrugged. "Carry on then." 

"The heinous Sheriff Fuckebythenavele of Fingringhoe-"

“Seriously?!” 

Jake held the book out for the assistant to read again. Chance wondered about the types of books Callie read in her spare time. This was a bit more about the Mayor than he really wanted to know. 

“I can read something else out loud, if you have anything else.” Jake said, just a faint edge of annoyance to it. Chance twisted his head slightly to get a look at his partner, who managed to look both embarrassed and defiant. 

“No, keep going.” The Dentist urged. “I wanna see how bad this gets.” 

Chance couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped. 

Jake gave a well put upon sigh and took up the story. “ _So_.” He said pointedly. “The lusciously lovely Lola Longtail was carried away in the arms of the heinous Sheriff Fuckebythenavele of Fingringhoe, the head minion of the loathsome Prime Minister Atramentous, who was the head advisor for the witless King Gaelg."

The assistant snickered, rolling back to Chance’s other side, picking up the odd suction tool as the Dentist started drilling. It didn’t hurt, precisely, but he was braced for pain anyway. 

Chance focused on the story Jake was telling instead. Of Lola, being pursued by Roland, the Lord D’hay’s son, and her meeting two vagabonds who assisted her in her goal of getting back to King Gaelg’s castle without being captured by Sheriff Fuckebythenavele. 

It was overblown and over the top, full of stupid misunderstandings, and he couldn’t hear parts of it because of the drill, but it worked as a distraction. They were probably about partway through when the assistant instructed him to to spit, and check how the tooth felt. 

He did, finding it as normal feeling as he could with his tongue still half numb. The Dentist and the Assistant left, leaving him with Jake, who was watching him with a slightly worried expression. 

“You okay?” Jake finally asked. 

Chance grunted, swinging his feet over. “Peachy.” The world seemed slightly off kilter, not enough for full dizziness or vertigo, but just enough to make being upright feel hazardous. 

Jake was there without prompting, strong hands grabbing his arms, helping him to his feet. “C’mon.” He said quietly. 

“I got it.” Chance grumbled, waving off his partner’s hands. He could stand on his own two feet. Really. 

Jake stepped back, hands up to show he wouldn’t help unless requested. “Let’s get out of here.” He suggested instead. 

“Best idea you’ve had all day.” Chance agreed, heading towards the door. They walked in silence up to the front, Chance leaning against the wall as Jake took over the conversation about insurance and payment. 

They wanted to talk to Chance about getting a tooth guard to sleep in, to keep him from grinding his teeth at night, which was what damaged his tooth to begin with. Thankfully Jake waved it off with a smile and a comment that they had to be back in a couple of months for their yearly check up anyway, they could do it then. 

There were times when Chance seriously debated kissing Jake. Moments like this for instance, when he was quietly saving Chance’s tail. 

He probably could have dealt with all of that, but with as spacey as he was feeling, it was nice to not have to. 

A light touch on his arm startled him. It was Jake, gesturing for them to leave. Chance silently followed, glad to be leaving the building. 

He swayed slightly once they got to the sidewalk, his balance a little out of whack. Jake grabbed his arm, holding him steady. “You okay?” 

“Kinda.” He admitted quietly. 

Jake gave him a scrutinising look that would have had him flushing guiltily any other time. “Sitrep?” 

Chance grimaced. “Balance is a bit off from the pain and the drugs.” He muttered. Yet another one of the reasons he hated the dentist. “I’ll be fine once it wears off.” 

“Hmm.” Jake hummed thoughtfully, sounding like he didn’t quite believe Chance. He didn’t say anything though, just tucked Chance’s arm through his, escorting him back to the truck. Chance may have leaned a little more than he needed to as they walked, wishing he wasn’t quite so drugged, so he could remember this later without the fuzzy headedness. 

This is not what he meant when he’d fantasised about walking with Jake earlier. 

“I’m driving.” Jake informed him as they got to the truck. Chance debated arguing, then handed the keys over without complaint. If he was walking like he was drunk, then driving probably wasn’t a good idea. 

“You drive like a grandma.” Chance complained as he climbed into Jake’s usual spot and sat down. Jake just laughed as he closed the door behind Chance, and walked around the truck. 

“I’m gonna take that as a compliment right now.” Jake smirked as he hopped into the driver’s seat, quickly shutting the door after him before a passing car could take it out. He adjusted the seat for his shorter legs, the rearview mirror, and checked the side mirrors before grabbing his seatbelt. “Seeing as you probably couldn’t drive your way out of a paper bag right now.”

“Could too.” Chance protested. “Just gotta go thataway.” He pointed to the road. 

Jake chuckled, amused. The expression fell off his face as he looked in the rearview mirror. “Speaking of which, I think it’s time to hit it. Got your seatbelt?” 

“Yeah, yeah.” He grumbled, fastening it across his lap. Jake nodded and started up the truck, carefully backing up before pulling out into the traffic and driving away. In the side mirror, Chance could see one of the Traffic Enforcers a few vehicles behind them. 

They’d most likely missed a parking fine by a few minutes. 

“Nice timing.” He commented as Jake sedately moved through traffic, heading to the highway and out of town. 

“Affirmative.” Jake grinned, obviously gleeful over that.

They drove in silence as they left Megakat City, the taller buildings fading away to warehouses, and eventually suburbs. Chance felt himself drifting, like he was about to fall asleep at any minute, but he didn’t want to sleep that until they were back to the safety of the garage. 

“How come I never see you scared of the dentist?” He finally asked, looking for something to keep him awake. 

Jake huffed in laughter. “Cause I’m not.” He admitted. 

Chance wrinkled his nose. “So you’re not afraid of anything’.” 

“I am.” Jake’s mouth crinkled, like he was trying to smile and frown at the same time. “I just handle it differently. You get mad and try to bluff when you get scared. I’m the opposite, I get quiet and try to hide it that way.”

“Yeah, right.” Chance scoffed, a gentle curve sending him tilting towards Jake. “Name one time.” 

“Last time we got flu shots.” Jake said immediately. 

Chance thought it over. “You didn’t make a peep.” 

“Cause I was hiding behind you.” Jake said, his tone self-depreciating. “You couldn’t see my face cause I was trying to hide it against your shoulder.”

He didn’t remember that. Or thought it was Jake’s hand, offering support to Chance. “Huh.” 

Jake shrugged a shoulder. “I don’t like needles.” 

He’d never realised that. “So no tattoos for you.” Chance mused. Not that Jake had ever shown any inclination for wanting one anyway.

“Enforcers aren’t supposed to have identifying marks in case they go undercover.” Jake mocked. “That was my excuse when I was younger. Now-?” He shrugged. “Suppose I could, but don’t want to.” 

“Fair enough.” Chance agreed. He hadn’t really thought about it, if he wanted one or not. His stripes were enough for him. 

Although a Swat Kat symbol, hidden under the fur someplace… that was an idea. Risky, if anyone put two and two together, but tempting.

He wondered where a good place would be to put it. Somewhere that didn’t get seen a lot. 

He jolted at the touch of Jake’s warm hand on his, not realising he’d started to drift off. 

“Here.” Jake took Chance’s left hand and put it on the truck’s stick shift. “You handle the gears, I’ll take care of the clutch.” 

“Can do.” Chance grinned, feeling more alert, now that he had something to focus on. Jake left his hand on top of Chance’s, looking for all the world like he’d forgotten it was there. 

Chance smiled, shifting in his seat slightly, so he wasn’t leaning uncomfortably to reach the stick in the middle. They were almost to the Salvage Yard anyway, it wasn’t like they needed to change gears a lot until they got to the garage. 

Jake announced when he was hitting the clutch, the two of them shifting the gears together. It was kind of fun, almost like a game, the two of them teaming up to accomplish the goal. 

He’d have to remember this later. And the whole hand holding trick, that was pretty slick. 

They parked the truck, Jake removing his hand to turn off the engine, then push the seat back to where Chance usually had it. Chance focused on unbuckling his seatbelt, which seemed to not want to let go, as Jake walked around and opened his door for him. 

“I got it.” Chance growled in annoyance as he finally got the button to work. 

“Good job, Buddy.” Jake said so sincerely that Chance wasn’t sure if he was being mocked or not. He gave Jake a suspicious look, but his partner kept a straight face, and he couldn’t tell one way or another. 

“.... Thanks.” He drawled, slowly climbing out of the truck. The dizziness returned as soon as he started moving, and he decided against protesting when Jake wrapped an arm around him, helping him inside. 

He probably could have made it on his own, but this was faster. Besides, it wasn’t like there was anyone out here to see him not up to par. 

Jake lead him to the couch, helping him sit, then lay down without the world swirling around him. “You’ll feel better after a nap.” Jake promised, removing Chance’s cap, stroking Chance’s head. 

The contact was soothing, and he could feel himself relax at the touch, leaning into it. “Always do.” Chance muttered. He spent enough time recovering from various escapades to know that. 

At least he could. Jake had to wear himself out first, before he could sleep. 

Jake chuckled quietly in agreement, his fingers running from Chance’s forehead, claws just barely grazing down the bridge of his nose, and through the longer fur of his cheeks. A purr rumbled up at the back of his throat, and he lifted his head, baring his neck in a silent request for more. 

His partner made a quietly noise, like an surprised in drawn breath, but obliged him, claws carding through the fur, smoothing it out. Occasionally Jake would reach up, stroking Chance’s ears with gentle fingers. Chance sighed blissfully, the tension leaving his body as he seemed to just float on the edge of sleep and not. 

Jake wasn't as big on touching as Chance was, probably from not having grown up as rough and tumble he did. Jake had gotten more comfortable with it the longer they'd known each other, but Jake still only tended to reached out and initiated contact when he thought that either Chance needed the silent support, or if he thought that Chance wouldn't notice. Every time he did though, Chance just wanted to soak up the contact like a sponge and luxuriate in it.

Finally Jake sighed, then stopped, something that was entirely unexpected. Chance opened an eye, finding Jake with a peculiar expression on his face, wistful and fond, all rolled into one. 

“Hey.” Chance said, looking for something witty to say, maybe get Jake to continue with his attentions. “So how does the story end?” 

He was a little curious, but not enough to think about reading the book.

“Fuckebythenavele’s secretly a hero.” Jake said quietly, fingers stroking Chance’s forehead again. “Working undercover to remove Prime Minister Atramentous from power, Roland D'Hay’s a cad, and the vagabonds help Lotta Longtail take over the Kingdom.” 

“...Huh.” He hadn’t quite expected that. 

“Yeah.” Jake sounded fond, giving Chance’s head one last pat before straightening up. Something about the story niggled at Chance’s brain, even as he started to fall asleep.

Then he realised what it was.

"Jake?" Chance mumbled as his partner started to walk away.

"Yeah, buddy?" 

Chance swallowed sleepily, licking the roof of his mouth. "That wasn't Callie's book." He slurred. "Was it?" 

Jake huffed in amusement, the little noise he made when someone surprised him. "Nope."

Chance grinned smugly to himself, falling asleep with sense of accomplishment. 

"Didn't think so." 

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by the fact that both Rinpin and I had to visit the dentist this past week. I got a crown put in the back, and Chance's reactions to the painkillers are based on my own. (side note: highly do not recommend riding your two-wheeled vehicles home after dental surgery, get a ride) 
> 
> Because I am a history geek, 'Fuckebythenavele' is a last name in [the oldest documented use of the word 'fuck', in a court case in 1310](http://www.medievalists.net/2015/09/10/the-earliest-use-of-the-f-word-discovered/). [Fingringhoe](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fingringhoe) is a real place, in Essex, England.


	9. Chapter 9

“Is it… Supposed to do that?” Callie asked as the large green jewel in the centre of the crown she was holding started to glow a bright blood red. 

“I am uncertain.” Dr. Abby Sinian said, looking vaguely alarmed. “Perhaps you should set that down…” There was only a faint edge of panic in her otherwise calm tone. Callie quickly did as instructed, setting the crown the Pastmaster had dropped at her swearing down on the table. 

The glow faded. 

Both kats stared at the crown. “Did it do that when you touched it?” Callie ventured, trying to ignore the way the palms of her hands tingled and the feeling it left behind. 

“No.” Dr. Sinian shook her head. “Nor did it glow when anyone else touched it.” 

That was slightly alarming. Callie looked at the crown again, then carefully put the tip of her finger on the point of the crown. 

The stone glowed. 

“Okay.” She gulped, removing her hand. “So not a fluke.” 

“It would appear not.” Dr. Sinian said, sounding concerned. “If I may be so bold as to suggestion?” She gave Callie a pointed look. “That perhaps you might get in contact with some ‘friends’ who deal with the unusual?”

Callie opened her mouth, the question of who on her tongue, before she shut her mouth again. “I’ll be right back.” She announced, then quickly exited the room.

It wasn’t much of a stretch to connect her to having some way of contacting the Swat Kats, due to the fact that they were ever far behind when she stumbled upon trouble. Even more so since they had made an appearance on her behalf when she announced her candidacy for Mayor. 

And Dr. Sinian was far from stupid.

Callie glanced each way as she walked a little ways down the corridor before pulling out the communicator and activating it. She kind of wished she knew what happened on the other end, Jake made the most interesting technology. 

“Yes, Miss Briggs?” T-Bone’s breathless voice answered her, Razor’s muffled exclamations in the background, that she was _Mayor_ Briggs now. 

“Not quite an emergency this time.” She said with a smile, leaning back against the wall. “Remember the crown the Pastmaster dropped?” 

There was a bit of a pause on the other end. “Yes.” T-Bone said, a bit of a low growl to his voice. 

“The crown glows when I touch it.” Callie said, pleased at how level her voice was. “Doesn’t seem react to anyone else though.” 

“The crown... _glows_?!” T-Bone echoed. There was an immediate sound of a scuffle, then Razor was on the phone. 

“Where are you now?” He demanded. 

“I’m with Dr. Sinian at the Megakat Museum of History.” Callie tried not to smile at the concern in his voice. “We’re fine. And not planning on going anywhere else for a while.”

“We’ll be there soon.” Razor promised, then hung up. 

Callie shook her head, putting the communicator back in her purse, and walked back. Dr. Sinian had a magnifying glass in one hand and was staring through it at the crown with a frown. 

“Anything?” Callie inquired. 

“Nothing unusual as far as I can tell.” Dr. Sinian shook her head, looking serious. “Your friends?” 

“Will be here soon.” Callie glanced at her watch, mentally calculated how long it would take for them to get here from the Salvage Yard, and cut off about five minutes. “We have a few minutes, if we want to get back to discussing the budget.” 

“Ah, yes.” Dr. Sinian sighed, looking about as happy with the budget as Callie did. “The Budget.” 

There wasn’t a way to stretch the budget to cover everything Callie wanted to. And with the attacks on the city becoming more commonplace, that was taking a bigger bite out of the budget than she really cared to think about. 

“How much of a cut am I taking this time?” Dr. Sinian inquired tiredly. 

“That’s what I’m trying to avoid.” Callie assured her. With as often as Dr. Sinian had saved their tails several times with her knowledge of history and the occult, there was no way Callie wanted to lose such a valuable resource. 

And Megakat City’s history had come back to bite them in the tail, more than once. They needed people looking into that, to keep it from happening in the future. They couldn’t always rely on the Swat Kats and dumb luck to get them out of trouble. 

That earned her a small tired smile, and Callie changed her mind at the resignation in Dr. Sinian's expression. “Tell you what. Let’s go over the budget later this week, it’ll take more than a few minutes. What can you tell me about Queen Callista? I know almost nothing about her other than she was Queen, and I supposedly look a lot like her.” 

And the Pastmaster had a creepy obsession with her. 

Dr. Sinian's expression brightened. “Oh! That I can do! Come with me!” She said excitedly, picking up the crown and motioning for Callie to follow her. Callie smiled as she did so, pleased to have brightened Dr. Sinian's mood. 

“Queen Callista had a very rare talent.” Dr. Sinian cheerfully lectured as she led Callie into the back, towards the closed collections. “Not only was she a sorceress of some ability, but she had the gift of prophecy, able to occasionally glimpse into the future.” 

“Wait, so is that the reason the Pastmaster is interested in her?” Callie frowned. “Because he could see the future?” 

“Uncertain.” Dr. Sinian shrugged. “Although not unlikely. Many of her prophecies did end up foretelling various defeats of the Pastmaster.”

“Unfortunately, not for good.” Callie said bitterly. If her ancestor could have stopped the Pastmaster in the past, it would save them all some headache and aggravation. 

“Stopping an immortal for 800 years isn’t doing poorly.” Dr. Sinian corrected sternly. “Considering here in the present, we can only prevent his appearance for mere months at a time.” 

Callie grimaced. “Sorry.” She muttered. That was a good point. 

Dr. Sinian shook her head, then let out a small sigh. “It is frustrating.” She confessed, her voice heavy. “I wish we could figure out a way to possibly repeat the circumstances…”

“That would be nice.” Callie agreed. One last hassle out of their hair, one less thing to worry about. 

The archeologist nodded. “Most of the images we have of Queen Callista’s time comes from either oral traditions, carvings in rocks, or various manuscripts that have been preserved. Books, saved in rare collections. We have some here.” She said, pulling out a keyring and unlocked the large wood door. 

Callie took a deep breath as the doors opened and they stepped inside. There was nothing else in the world like old books. Dr. Sinian gave her an amused look as she stepped inside. 

“Give me a minute to find the correct book…” She said absentmindedly, motioning for Callie to sit at the table. Callie leaned against the table instead, admiring the collection of books, soaking up the age and knowledge preserved in the room. 

It wasn’t often she had a chance to sit and do nothing, no prep work for an upcoming meeting, no notes to take care of, no speeches to write. No Secretary or Deputy Mayor to worry about instructing, now that she wasn’t filling both roles. Just to take a moment and _stop_. 

Dr. Sinian appeared to putter around, muttering to herself as she pulled out various books and carefully checked them over, but it was a nice quiet background noise. 

Finally the archeologist let out a soft cry of excitement, walking over and setting a large tome on the table. “Here we are. Queen Callista, Ruler of Megalith City.” 

The painted image took up an entire page. There was a large border that included part of a castle, along with a cyclops and a dragon. A sword stuck in a large stone occupied one corner, what looked like a large black bird flying above it, ready to take on the dragon opposite. 

And in the middle was Queen Callista. Even with the stylized art it was easy to see their likeness, from the large blond hair, to the same features and figure, dressed in magenta and blue, similar to the colours Callie wore. The Queen clutched something at her chest which glowed in her hand, the other held out as if benediction or offering. 

“Oh.” Callie breathed, looking at her ancestor for the first time. 

“Yes, the resemblance is striking, isn’t it?” Dr. Sinian smiled. She gestured to the border. “That is from the most famous tale involving the queen, that of the Dragon Warriors.”

“Dragon Warriors?” Callie questioned. 

“Yes. I’m afraid that over the past 800 years that the story has warped and changed some, but some elements remain the same.” Dr. Sinian motioned to the border of the manuscript. “The Pastmaster’s monsters were attacking the city frequently, none so viciously as the fearsome red Dragon. Many valiant warriors fell in defense of the city, and hope seemed lost until the Queen predicted that the one who defeat the dragon would pull the sword from the stone on the outskirts of the city.”

“... Where did the sword and the stone come from?” Callie asked. 

Dr. Sinian shrugged. “No one knows. Magic, perhaps? It is a mystery.” 

“Okay, then.” So that was possibly a thing. Rocks with swords growing out of them. Why not? They had just about everything else around here. 

“Months went by with no one able to pull the sword from the stone.” Dr. Sinian continued, motioning to the sword and the large bird. “Until one day two strange knights in a large black bird arrived. There was a bit of a skirmish between Queen’s people and the knights, one of whom pulled the sword from the rock.” 

“-The strangers were greeted as friends, and taken back to the castle, where they repaired their metal bird. When the Pastmaster attacked again, he captured the Queen, to force her into marriage. The two knights flew to her rescue, one flying to snatch her from the Pastmaster’s grip, while the other did launch the sword into the dragon’s breast, slaying it.” 

“And then what?” Callie asked, fully expecting to discover they lived happily ever after or something like that. 

“They disappeared in their giant bird into a giant hole in the sky.” Dr. Sinian waved a hand in the air. 

"Actually, that was us, in the TurboKat, returning to the present." T-Bone's amused voice made them jump. They turned to find the Swat Kats leaning against the each side of doorway, obviously having been listening in. 

"They probably didn't have a better terminology, much less context for a 'fighter jet'." Razor added helpfully. "’Metal Bird' is pretty good. Think T-Bone called the Turbokat a ‘bird’ too, when we were working on fixing her up with the medieval blacksmithing tools" 

"My word... I did not even hear your plane land." Dr. Sinian breathed, looking surprised at their appearance. 

"We took the cyclotrons here." Razor jerked a thumb over his shoulder, presumably towards their bikes. "Lower profile." 

"And you did say it wasn't an emergency." T-Bone added, with a nod towards Callie. 

Callie levelled a look at them. "You raced here, didn't you?" She drawled, filling in the blanks. Honestly, those two were so competitive sometimes. 

Razor gave her a kind of sideway look. "Duh." He smirked, unrepentantly. 

She had to fight from laughing from just how similar but different her friend was as Razor. If she'd asked Jake that, he probably would have ducked his head and shyly avoided answering. Sometimes she wondered if Razor's sarcastic tone was because Jake didn't censor himself when he wore the mask. 

“To return to the subject.” Dr. Sinian interjected. “That was you, in the past?” 

“Courtesy of the Pastmaster.” Razor nodded, his expression shifting to something more serious. 

“One minute we’re defeatin’ oil guzzling leeches, the next we’re back in Medieval Times.” T-Bone crossed his arms across his chest, showing off his biceps. “Got attacked by Queen Callista and the locals, until Razor _accidently_ pulled a sword from a rock.” 

“The Dragon Sword.” Dr. Sinian breathed, looking awestruck. 

"Bingo!" Razor nodded. “That’s the one.” 

“Just a moment.” Dr. Sinian said, then dashed off. Callie and the Swat Kats exchanged looks, silently inquiring if they should follow, before T-Bone rocked back on his heels, obviously deciding to stay. She and Razor silently followed his lead.

“So the reason why I couldn’t contact you when the leeches were attacking the oil carriers was because you were in the past?” Callie asked. She’d been starting to panic when she couldn’t contact them, fearing the worst. She'd been so angry when they'd shown up, alive and well, then had to sit down with her head between her knees when relief hit.

“Yup.” Razor nodded. 

“Wasn’t as if it was the first time we’ve been sent back in Megakat’s history.” T-Bone shrugged it off. “Hey, remember the pterodactyls?”

“I’d rather forget.” Razor groused. “Them and the T-Rex.” 

“You visit the past frequently?” Dr. Sinian inquired, returning with an ancient looking book in her hands. 

“Eh.” Razor waggled his hand. “More often than the average kat. We've visited the future once too.”

T-Bone frowned. “We don’t talk about that trip.” He said darkly, Razor mirroring his expression. 

“Let’s just say we've seen what happens if we fail.” Razor said, his tone mild, but something dark behind his masked eyes. "It's not pretty."

Callie felt a shiver go down her spine. 

“It’s the Pastmaster’s favourite trick to get us out of his fur, to send us to different periods in time.” T-Bone explained, tail lashing irately. “And then we have to figure out how to get back to ‘now’ so we can kick his tail.” 

“It’s a little more nerve-wracking than it sounds.” Razor added. “We’re never sure if the portals will return us home, or send us to somewhen else.” 

“I can see how that would be troublesome.” Dr. Sinian murmured, then sighed as she set the book down. “But I still do wish I could visit the past. To see these cultures in their heyday…” She stared dreamily off into the distance.

“I’d like to say we’d take you with us.” Razor said sympathetically. “But it’s not like we’ve got a lot of control over it.” 

“Quite so.” Dr. Sinian agreed, opening the book. “Since the Pastmaster’s rebirth, the academic interest in Queen Callista has risen quite sharply. Where as she was previously passed over, several books and manuscripts on her are now coming to light. Including this one.” 

She flipped through the book for a moment, before finding the page she was looking for and motioning for them to take a look. They all huddled around the book, staring at the kats dressed in blue and red armour. 

“That’s… us.” Razor realised, pointing a claw to the smaller of the two kats without quite touching the paper. “Look, the decorative elements on the clothing, that’s the harness on our flightsuits.” 

“They even drew you all tiny.” T-Bone added with an adoring coo, resting his arm on top of Razor’s head. 

Razor elbowed him in the exposed ribs. “Lay off.” He grumbled as T-Bone removed his arm. Callie hid a grin as T-Bone gave her a mischievous wink, letting her in on the teasing. Jake could be a little sensitive about his lack of height sometimes. 

"And this?" Dr. Sinian flipped the page back, where it showed the smaller of the kats pulling a sword from a stone on one page. On the opposite page, it showed the larger armoured kat picking up a kat and using them as a club to defeat the others. 

"Yeah, that's pretty much what happened." Razor agreed, motioning to the illumination of T-Bone. 

The pilot gave them all a broad pleased smirk. Callie glanced at the muscles in his arms and didn't doubt it for an instant. 

"There was a little bit more stumbling on my part." Razor continued, sounding embarrassed. "I didn't mean to pull out the sword, I was just looking for something to defend myself with."

“I know the legend.” Dr. Sinian said, looking at the pages of the book, then up at the Swat Kats. “I would be interested in hearing what happened, in your own words. Make a record of it, with your permission.” 

T-Bone and Razor exchanged a look, before both shrugged. “Sure. Some other time though?” Razor asked. “You mentioned something about a crown?” 

“Oh, yes.” Dr. Sinian said, giving herself a small shake before turning and picking up the crown. “Here.” 

Razor took it from her, giving it an intent look as he examined it. “She wasn’t wearing a crown when we met her.” He finally said, offering it to T-Bone. “The jewel looks familiar-”

The jewel on the crown lit up as they both touched it. Not quite the same blood red as when Callie touched it, almost a purple where blue streaks of light mixed with the red. Both Swat Kats yelped and jumped apart, Razor fumbling to catch the crown, flipping it back up in the air to keep it from hitting the ground. T-Bone grabbed the crown in one hand, just as the light faded out. 

“You felt that too, right?” Razor looked at T-Bone, the eyes of both kats round behind the masks. 

“I…” T-Bone hesitated. “I’m not sure what that was.” He admitted, peering at the crown with narrowed eyes.

“It felt like danger. No. Not danger…” Razor rubbed his jaw thoughtfully. “More like a warning. Did you feel anything?” He asked, looking curiously at her. 

Callie nodded. “It felt… I don’t know. Familiar? Somehow?” She confessed. 

“You didn’t mention that.” Dr. Sinian looked alarmed. 

Callie grimaced. “I thought I was imagining things.” Or at least she’d hoped she’d been imagining things. 

“Wanna do something reckless?” T-Bone asked, just a flash of fang in his grin. He offered her the crown. 

Callie hesitated, then put her hand on the bottom of the crown as well. The stone lit up, bright red, with just a shimmer of blue. 

“Might as well.” Razor said with a fatalistic shrug before stepping up next to her, putting his hand on the crown. 

The jewel flashed, and Callie went blind, suddenly caught up in the sensation of being in freefall, unable to feel anything. She panicked, unable to feel even the crown in her hand.

And then feeling hit with the force of a tidal wave, crashing into her and pulling her under. Suddenly it was too much, as if her body and bones had suddenly gotten bigger. 

She was the city. The streets and freeways her veins, the telephone wires that zigzagged everywhere her nerves, the ground her flesh and bones. People lived in her, some bright glowing spots, some not. Eating, sleeping, working, _living_ , as they had done for hundreds of years, and hopefully for hundreds more. 

It was glorious. 

She could feel Jake and Chance there with her, feeling what she felt, breathing in the might and energy of their city. 

And there was rot. Not natural rot, part of the cycle of living, but _poison_.

Darkness spread like little inky tendrils, corrupting the land and the people. Jake, no, _Razor_ zoomed after it, trying to pinpoint the source, as eager as a falcon diving after prey. T-Bone followed, teeth and claws ready to attack and rend once his partner tracked the origin. 

Callie trailed after, something telling her that her role was not to fight, that was what her two defenders were for. Hers was to protect and heal. Once they had filled their role, hers took over, shoring the weak part that was left, and making it strong again. 

And then it faded, and she was back in her tiny body again, standing on her two little feet. She blinked, shook her head again, and tried to focus, finding the two Swat Kats doing much the same thing. 

“Did you get them?” She asked, glancing between T-Bone and Razor. T-Bone looked at his partner, who frowned, then slowly shook his head. 

“I’m not sure if I was tracking an individual or a location.” Razor confessed. “But if I didn’t know better, I’d say it was-”

“-Dark Kat.” T-Bone growled, the menace in his voice enough to send the fur on her neck standing straight up. Razor nodded, looking grim. 

“I take it the three of you saw something?” Dr. Sinian's brisk tone cut in. They all looked over at the archeologist, who was holding the crown in her hands. Which was probably what ended whatever it was they had experienced. 

“I… Yes.” Callie nodded, running a hand over her hair, smoothing it out. She glanced over at the T-Bone and Razor and found the same inability to put into words what they had just seen and felt.

“It looked as if light that flowed like water erupted from the earth and enveloped you.” Dr. Sinian said, sounding thoughtful. “Which then spread out in great tendrils away from the building. I don’t know how far they went.” 

“I’ll probably be getting phone calls about them.” Callie said, suddenly feeling tired. She found the bookshelves next to her and leaned against it, a headache starting to form behind her eyes. 

Dr. Sinian made a thoughtful sound as she examined the crown. “I do not believe these were here before.” She said, then flipped the crown over, so they could all see the bottom. “Does this mean anything to you?” She asked, pointing to an inscription of runes that now ran along the bottom. 

Callie and T-Bone looked at Razor, who glanced between them and shrugged. “I’m afraid I don’t read Medieval magic runes.” He said, bordering on defensive.

“You may wish to pick it up.” Dr. Sinian mused, taking back the crown and running her fingertip over the writing. “I’ll have to do some research.” 

“If it’s any help, we do recognize the stone.” Razor offered, pointing to the large jewel in the middle.

“It looks like the same one Callista wore.” T-Bone seconded. “She’d hold it when she cast spells, protective shields and the like. Thought it was destroyed right before we left though.” 

“She may have manufactured another.” Dr. Sinian didn’t look put off by it. “It takes some time, but such stones are generally used as a focal point, or as a battery for magical energies.” 

Razor glanced over at Callie and shrugged to signify he was out of his depth. 

Callie smiled faintly back. “Mayor?” Razor said, holding a hand out towards her, but not quite touching her arm. Just leaving it there, in case she needed support.

“Just tired.” Callie said quietly, realising that she was swaying slightly. She felt as if she could eat an entire 500 pound tuna by herself and then sleep for a week. 

“It’s not surprising, the three of you just channeled what was probably a fair amount of magical energy.” Dr. Sinian said, setting the crown down. “Come and sit down for a few minutes, I have some milk in the staff fridge, that should help.” 

“No offense, but we’d be better off resting back at the hanger.” T-Bone said, motioning over his shoulder. “Just in case that light show shook anything loose, I’d rather be close to the TurboKat.” 

Razor glanced at Callie, then back over at T-Bone and nodded, backing his partner. Callie smiled, silently letting them know she didn’t take it as a slight. It made sense for them to be close to their jet, and for as much good as they did for the city, they were still wanted vigilantes. 

“You can get back safely?” Callie said instead. 

“Yup.” Razor assured her. “Talk to you soon.” He promised, he and T-Bone silently leaving. Callie didn’t say anything when just before they turned the corner and left her sight, T-Bone slung an arm around Razor’s shoulders, the smaller kat leaning towards his partner, making it hard to figure out who was propping up who. 

She hoped they were going to sit and lean against each other for a few minutes before making the ride back out of town… Slower than they’d made it here. 

Maybe the Turbokat would have been a better idea.

At least they didn’t tell her that they’ve fought while in worse shape. It was undoubtedly true, which didn’t make it better. 

“Well, that was certainly exciting.” Dr. Sinian said, stepping next to Callie. “Come, let’s get something to drink.” 

“Thank you.” Callie smiled, and didn’t argue when Dr. Sinian escorted her out of the rare book collection and to the staff room for a glass of milk and a moment to sit.

And then she’d head back to City Hall and start making plans once again. 

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did some calculations, and if the Swat Kats is happening in the mid-90s, 800 years ago puts Megalith City just before 1,200AD, so after the [end of the Viking Era](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_Age), and we do have [surviving manuscripts from that time](http://www.vikingage.org/wiki/index.php?title=Illuminated_Anglo-Saxon_Manuscripts_900-1066AD). [Leif Ericsson is thought to have found North America](http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/vikings.htm) right around 1,000AD, and since it is known that the [Vikings had female leaders](http://sciencenordic.com/don%E2%80%99t-underestimate-viking-women), it is entirely possible that Megalith City is a Viking Settlement.  
> -Yeah, I know, different world/universe entirely, but let me geek.


	10. Chapter 10

“Hey, that building looks just like one of of the runes on Callista’s crown.” Razor blurted as they did a sweep of the city. 

“Which one?” T-Bone asked, sounding sort of vaguely disinterested. His attention was more on where they were going anyway. Possibly dinner too, it was getting kind of late. 

They’d been flying for a couple of hours, just a routine patrol, and if Razor was starting to get a little hungry, T-Bone was probably more than a little starving. 

“That one… Hold on. Swing back around?” Razor asked, digging around for a digital camera he’d recently found and fixed up. Thank goodness for MIlitary contracts getting tech before it was commercially available. 

“Roger.” T-Bone drawled, flipping them upside down as he turned them around, before straightening out their flight again. 

“Thanks.” Razor smirked, getting an idea. “Do that again?” 

“Turn?” 

“No, a slow barrel roll.” 

“Alright.” T-Bone agreed, sounding like he was either trying not to laugh, or was humouring Razor against his better judgement. But still, he did as requested, Razor snapping a couple pictures of the building in question before T-Bone put them upright again. 

“You get it?” T-Bone asked. 

“Probably.” Razor mused. He’d have to see about putting some sort of viewer on the camera at some point, make it easier to check the photos. Still, it was easier to hitch a cable to the camera than having to go through the process of developing film. 

He spotted another building that looked strangely oddly rune-shaped and took a photo of it as well. The angle was weird, but he thought he got it okay. 

Actually… now that he had noticed it, there were quite a few buildings with odd, almost runic shapes to them. There was one that looked a bit like a ‘x’. He took a photo of it as well, adding rune shaped buildings to his things to scan the horizon for, along with Enforcer choppers, giant mutated insects, and anything trying to shoot at them. 

“Heh. Baader-Meinhof Phenomenon strikes again.” He chuckled to himself. It’d only been a few days ago that Callie had summoned them to the Museum of History, and they’d all been drawn in by Callista’s crown, seeing and feeling Megakat City in an entirely different way. 

And now here he was, seeing magical rune shaped buildings in the city. 

“Balder _what_?” T-Bone echoed, confused. 

“Baader-Meinhof.” Razor corrected. “You know when you just learned something and it pops up again not long after? That.” 

T-Bone made a low noise in his throat. It was an odd mixture of annoyance and fondness, a noise he frequently made when he felt Razor was talking over his head again. 

His partner wasn’t the idiot he sometimes pretended to be, but the things they found interesting or entertaining were vastly different. Chance preferred simpler, straightforward things, where Jake liked solving complex problems. 

Although, he had to admit that after years of exposure, Scaredy Kat was growing on him. There was something soothing about the repetitious formula. Especially if he had a good book to read at the same time. 

-But he’d be willing to bet that his partner would remember the phrase correctly later. 

“We gonna stare at buildings all day, or should we head back to the hanger?” T-Bone snarked. 

“Yeah, Hanger’s fine.” Razor waved it off. Definitely time to get some food into his partner. “I wanna look at some maps anyway.” 

“You got it.” T-Bone agreed, doing a loop-de-loop because he could, then taking them home.

* * *

“Alright, that’s enough of that.” Strong hands grabbing him by the scruff of the neck and lifting him out of the chair brought Jake out of the book he’d been reading. A second hand grabbed the belt at his hip and he knew immediately where this was going.

“Not over the shoulder! Not over the shoulder!” Jake yelped, arms flailing. He hated being carried like a sack of potatoes over Chance’s shoulder. 

Chance chuckled in return. “Well, since you asked…” Jake found himself tossed lightly into the air, then caught before he could use it to his advantage to twist away, Chance carrying him bridal style. 

It wasn’t any more dignified, but it wasn’t any less either.

Jake glared at his partner. “I can walk, you know.” He griped.

“Yeah, but this way there’s no excuses.” Chance smirked, as he turned and strode down the halls, carrying Jake as if he weighed nothing. 

Jake sighed quietly to himself, draping an arm around Chance’s shoulder so he was more comfortable. No use getting his spine twisted out of shape over this. Chance would let him go if Jake asked, but his partner seemed to delight in his strength, and the fact that could carry Jake around. And, well, it wasn't _exactly_ a hug, but it was close, and Jake wasn't so proud that he wouldn't take what he could get.

“You’ve been sitting there with your nose in dusty old books for over five hours now.” Chance scolded. “You didn’t even notice lunch, did you?” 

“I…” Jake thought about it. Now that he was paying attention, he noticed the lingering taste of spicy mustard and sardines in his mouth, probably a sandwich that Chance had put in his hand at some point and Jake had eaten without thinking. “Oh.”

“Yeah. ‘Oh’.” Chance mocked and Jake felt himself flush a little. So sometimes he got caught up in something and lost track of time… 

Which is why he was grateful he had Chance to get him out of his head occasionally. Even if he did it in the most obnoxious ways possible. 

“What is it with you carrying me around, anyway?” He groused, mostly for show. Affront to his dignity aside, it wasn’t a bad thing to be carried around by his partner. It was nice to know that Chance cared. 

Chance just chuckled, but didn’t answer as he walked into the gym. He set Jake down next to the treadmill. “30 minutes. Go. You’ve been sitting too long.” 

Jake glanced down at his oil stained work clothes, then up at his partner. “20 minutes of stretching before hand if I can change clothes first.” He bartered.

“Deal.” Chance slapped his palm against Jake’s. “An hour on the treadmill if I catch you in your books before you get some exercise in first.” 

“I know better than that.” Jake protested, kicking off his work boots and tugging off his shirt. Chance rolled his eyes and wandered off to grab the dumbbells, ignoring Jake as he wiggled his toes on the ground. 

Exercise was probably precisely what he needed to clear the cobwebs from his brain. 

He grabbed his clothes and quickly headed to their still somewhat makeshift locker room to grab a pair of shorts and a tanktop. The small room, barely more than a closet, had the basics they needed, but the lockers were weirdly miss-match and eventually they should probably probably do something about the cracking linoleum of the floor. But they didn’t spend more than a few minutes there, so it wasn’t a high priority. 

He got out on the mats and started stretching. His back and joints popped as he started moving, earning a look from Chance that was somewhere halfway between ‘I told you so’ and ‘Was it supposed to sound like that?’. Jake ignored it and decided to focus just on the stretches for a bit, rather than rushing through them before getting on the treadmill.

When he was finished and was feeling limber and loose, he got on the treadmill, starting it slow, and then amping it up to a good run. The treadmill was kind of boring though, and he made a mental note that he and Chance hadn’t gone all out around the Salvage Yard in about a week, they should probably re-set the obstacle course or have a round of junk yard tag. 

“Wanna spar after this?” He offered, glancing over at his partner. 

“Sure.” Chance easily agreed, working on his own stretches. He probably was hanging around to keep an eye on Jake, so he didn't go running back to his books.

Not that Jake _would_ , but it was still nice to have the company. 

“What were you researching anyway?” Chance asked, sounding curious. 

"Two things." Jake held up his hand, flashing two fingers, then went back to pumping his arms properly. "Was trying to figure out what runes the buildings looked like, so maybe I could discover what their purpose was." 

Chance nodded, like that made sense. "And the second?" 

"Trying to find their locations on the maps." Jake shrugged. “That's the part that's the most nerve wracking." 

“Wait… Do you read or understand runes?” Chance’s nose scrunched up in confusion. 

“No.” Not yet, anyway. Give him a little while and he’d be better at it. 

“And the _maps_ are the hard part.” His partner frowned. “I don’t get it.” 

“Cause none of the maps I can find actually have the buildings on them.” Jake growled in frustration. “I pulled out our atlas from the truck, a couple of those touristy ones from the travel brochure rack we don’t use in the office, some that were tucked in the paperwork, and nothing.”

Chance tilted his head to the side, looking as dumbfounded as Jake felt. “They don’t have any buildings on them?” 

“Just the touristy ones, which have pictures of landmarks we already know, so aren’t really helpful either. Or drawn to scale.” Jake grumbled, annoyed. “The rest have only the roads, and some grey blocks for government buildings, and green blocks for parks.” 

“That’s…” Chance rubbed his head, thinking. “That’s pretty much what I remember from Enforcer training too. We were expected to know the street locations, more than the buildings.” 

“That’s what I vaguely recalled too.” Jake nodded. Although Chance had had more experience with the maps, as the pilot in charge of getting them where they needed to go. As the Guy In Back, Jake had been more concerned with being able to hit anything shooting at them, more than about where they were. 

“Did you have _any_ luck at all?” Chance asked.

Jake shrugged again. “The closest I could find were some of the charts left behind from when the hanger was a bunker in Mega War II. And most of the buildings I’m looking for are too recent.”

Those had taken some careful handling. The old paper was sturdy, but brittle, and he didn’t want to move them around too much. And even then, a lot of buildings in those charts had been shelled or destroyed in the Mega Wars. Most of the city had to have been rebuilt in the past 50 years, rising from the ashes of the remains. 

The one building he had located that was shaped like a rune from above was a holdover from Megalith City that hadn’t been destroyed. ‘Othala’, which stood for home, heritage, nation. 

One of the newer buildings was a skyscraper that was very obviously ‘gebō’, the ‘x’ shaped rune meaning ‘gift’. 

“What about satellite or aerial images?” Chance suggested. “You can access those on the internet, right?”

“Yes, and still not helpful.” Jake shook his head. “Too much cloud cover, they’ve never been able to get a good shot of the city. It’s always at least partially cloudy or foggy whenever they get a satellite or a plane in position.” 

“That’s…. suspect, actually.” Chance rumbled. “Yeah, we’re pretty cloudy since we’re right on an ocean, but _every_ time?” 

“I know.” Jake chuckled. “Why do you think i was hitting my head against a wall over it-? It’s almost as if someone doesn’t want there to be an accurate map of the city.” 

Or if someone was hiding something in it. He remembered the shadows when they’d gone into the crown, and wondered if they were hiding more than their presence. Although why someone would go to such lengths to conceal the layout of the city was beyond him.

“Well, before you give yourself a concussion, have you tried talking to Dr. Sinian?” Chance suggested, crossing his arms over his chest. “Since she is the leading expert on Megakat City and magic stuff-?”

“I…” Jake blinked. “... No?” 

He hadn’t even thought about asking for help, used to figuring out solutions to problems on his own, or with Chance backing him up. 

Chance chuckled, then magnanimously waved a hand. “Well, there you go. We can pull a short patrol together tomorrow night, drop you off at the museum with a cyclotron, get rid of that medieval cauldron at the same time, and you can get some answers.” 

“You don’t wanna join?” Jake asked, cranking up the speed again. 

“Nah, not my schtick.” Chance waved it off. “Besides, if I do some solo flying, any baddies are going to assume you’re with me anyway.”

“Point.” Jake agreed, feeling his muscles start to burn as he ran. “Hey… Where is that cauldron anyway?” He knew they had it around somewhere, but couldn’t remember off the top of his head.

Chance was silent for a long minute. “I think we’re currently using it to hold brooms in the hanger.” 

Jake shot him a sideways look. 

“Aaand it still has the Pepper Stew in it, from when we came back from the past.” Chance continued thoughtfully. “You know, I think I’m going to go hunt that down and give it a quick rinse before we donate it to the museum...” 

“Good idea.” Jake said dryly, then focused on his running while his partner wandered off.

* * *

“My heavens!” Dr. Sinian gasped as Razor disconnected the iron chain attached to giant old cauldron from the cable hanging from Turbokat, which hovered above the Natural History Museum. The steel cable that the chain had been connected to lower it looked laughably dainty in comparison, despite the fact that it was much stronger. “What is this?” 

“Souvenir from the past.” Razor shouted as he stepped back, keeping an eye on the doctor. Thankfully, Dr. Sinian stayed back from swinging cable, the hovering Turbokat, and the buffeting winds from the jet’s mighty engines. 

“You good?” T-Bone asked over the radio as the winch finished pulling the cable back into the body of the plane. 

“Affirmative.” Razor flashed a thumbs up. “Meet you back at base.” He’d launched himself down from the plane with a cyclotron before they’d lowered the cauldron. The was bike parked behind some bushes to hide it’s presence, and not going anywhere for a while.

T-Bone grunted in return. “Roger. Call if you need anything.” 

Sometimes Razor had the feeling they were having two different conversations. He backed up, one hand up to guard his face from the increasing pressure as the Turbokat lifted up, then took off into the sunset. 

“Sorry about that.” Razor said as Dr. Sinian walked out, her eyes on the glow of the Turbokat’s engines as the jet disappeared. “We figured we’d drop this off for donation at the same time. We brought it back with us after we met Queen Callista in the past. It’s one of the communal cooking pots from the castle. We were using it as a weapon.”

“Any port in a storm, I guess.” Dr. Sinian said, examining the cauldron with wide eyes. She stuck her head inside, and he could hear her sniffing. “Does it smell like… Peppers?” She asked, her voice echoing. 

“Pepper stew.” Razor grinned. “A Megalith City speciality, according to Queen Callista. They gave me the recipe, but I’ve forgotten part of it, with what all was going on at the time. I’ve been working on perfecting it during the winter. Once I have it right, I’ll give you a copy.” 

“I’d greatly appreciate that.” Dr. Sinian said, her head still inside the cauldron. “There’s a whole branch of studies for Medieval Cookery. Although none have been able to claim to have eaten food in said time period.” 

Razor shrugged, not really sure what to say about that. At the time, all he’d cared about was that it tasted good, and was filling. “It was spicy-?” He offered. 

He got a thoughtful sound back. “... I wouldn’t lick that if I were you.” Razor quietly added, not certain if he should mention the cauldron's use the past year or so. Or the fact that it’d been partially swallowed by an oil sucking leech at one point. 

Dr. Sinian pulled her head out, giving him a look that clearly stated that she had **not** been licking the pot. He shuffled his feet slightly. “It, ah, should be fine out here, by the way. Unless you’ve got a forklift or a heavy duty dolly.” Razor offered. “It’s the weight of a small engine, especially with the chain inside of it.”

T-Bone was the one who mostly dealt with moving it, since Razor couldn’t lift it by himself. And the big lug had seemed so pleased to cart it around, he hadn’t wanted to interfere with his partner’s fun. 

“I’ll get some interns to move it in the morning.” Dr. Sinian decided. “Are you certain it’s not magic?” She said, almost wistfully. 

“Unlikely?” Razor shrugged apologetically. “Unless there was something magical in the food?” 

Her shoulders slumped slightly as she patted the rim of the large cauldron. “Well, at least this is in good shape.” She gave him a small smile. “Thank you for donating this.” 

“Welcome.” He waved it off. It wasn’t like they were using it for anything worth while. “I’ll try to see if we have anything else we brought back with us from the past, but I think this was it. The chain’s original too.”

She nodded. “Well, I suppose we should get to business.” Dr. Sinian said, straightening her lab coat “You mentioned that you were interested in maps?” 

“Yes.” He motioned to the backpack over his shoulder. “As I mentioned when I called, I noticed something particular while flying over the city and wanted to get your opinion on it, since you’re familiar with magic and spells.” 

Dr. Sinian’s expression turned serious. “Right. We’ll talk in my office, if that’s alright with you?”

“Sure.” He inclined gestured a paw towards the door. “Ladies first.”

“Thanks.” She said dryly, walking towards the building, her tail lashing slightly. He shrugged and trotted a few steps to walk at her side. 

“I… uh. Don’t know the way to your office.” He added quietly, getting the feeling he misstepped somehow. She laughed, something in her shoulders loosening and he relaxed. 

“What did you find?” She inquired, leading him through the labyrinth that made up the back rooms of the museum. “Unless it’d be easier to show?” 

“Nah, I can explain.” He nodded. “Kind of hoping that you can tell me I’m not crazy, and noticing things that aren’t there. After our last visit, I noticed that from the air more than a couple of buildings in the city are shaped like runes. I tried locating them on various maps to see if there was a pattern but...” He trailed off with a shrug. 

“None of the maps past the second Mega War II show any of the buildings.” She concluded with a small sigh. “Yes, we’ve had similar problems.” 

So not just him. Well, it was always nice to know he wasn’t crazy. 

They paused in front of a door marked with her name, and she unlocked it, before motioning in him. “Gentlekats first.” 

Razor hesitated a second, then stepped inside, suddenly wondering if she’d lead him into an ambush. He scanned the for any tricks or traps. “Does it always sound ominous when someone says that?” He inquired as she followed him in, looking amused. 

“Sometimes it’s just an excuse to check out someone’s tail.” She smirked, taking a seat at her desk. “But when it’s a well armed masked vigilante requesting a private meeting after everyone else has left for the day-?” 

“Oh.” His eyes went wide and he held his hands up. He hadn’t put it in that context. “No! No, no nefarious plots here. I’m just here for your brains. To pick your brains. Not to eat them. Or anything else. Honest.” 

Razor shut his mouth with a snap. This was why he preferred to let T-Bone do more of the talking. He tended to sound less of an idiot when he had T-bone around to bounce off of. 

And given the various attacks and the amount of weirdness in the city sometimes, her being wary of his being here made total sense. 

“How about I show you what I found-?” He offered, trying to regain some of his usual self-assured confidence. He was a Swat Kat, for goodness sake.

“That sounds good.” Dr. Sinian smiled, and he noticed that she looked more relaxed than when he had first arrived, now that they had ascertained that he was there strictly for advice and not for some dastardly plot. 

He pulled out the images he’d printed off the camera and set them down in front of her, along with a map he’d printed off showing off the location of the two he’d found. She looked over them with a serious expression. 

“They’re all outside the original ring road that went around Megalith City.” Razor motioned, leaning over the desk to tracing the roads with the tip of one claw. “But inside the freeway that circles the city.” 

“If you’re wondering if roads can be used for magic circles, you would be correct.” She nodded, pushing her chair back, rolling over to a bookcase behind her desk and pulling out a book. She flipped through the pages as she rolled back, setting the book down so he could see the image. 

The date was from the 1700s, showing Megalith City growing into a prosperous town that had outgrown the original ring road. The streets were arranged in almost a cartwheel pattern, with spokes coming out from the centre of the city. 

“Note where the streets split as they approach the ring road.” Dr. Sinian said, tracing out a few patterns. The eight central spokes fractured off, or went around what looked like random roundabouts or fountains. 

“They’re runes.” Razor realised with a start. He traced the middle line, then two of the spokes on either side up towards the top, in a shape not dissimilar to a bird footprint. “That’s Algiz.” 

“Correct.” She nodded. “You can combine the runes in combinations, or add staff modifiers to create sigils for various purposes.”

“Like designing a circuit board. You want the power to flow in a certain way.” Razor concluded. ”But what’s the power source?” 

“Belief? Powered by the air, the earth? I don’t know.” Dr. Sinian shrugged. “I’m a researcher. You’d have to find a working practitioner to ask.” 

They’d probably have to go back to the past for that. And then find one that wouldn’t kill them, so unlikely.

“Do you know what this one is for?” He asked instead. 

“That I can tell you.” She pulled a second book from off the corner of her desk, paging through it and setting it down next to the map. “The roads form _Vegvísir_ , which is meant to guide one way home, especially through rough weather.” 

“If sigil is still intact and the various monsters we fight think of Megakat City as home…” Then the magic was probably drawing them to the city. Which was probably not the intended purpose when the magic circle had been built. 

She nodded, following his train of thought with a grimace.

“There are other sigils as well.” She continued, pointing to another cartwheel shaped sigil. “This _Ægishjálmur_ is known as the ‘Helm of Awe’ or ‘Terror’, which is meant for protection in battle. Which might not be a bad thing to carve on the insides of your helmets.” 

“That sounds more like T-Bone.” Razor murmured. T-Bone was certainly the scarier of the two. 

Dr. Sinian made a thoughtful noise and flipped the page, then pointed to one that looked like it had snowflakes on the ends of the spokes. “ _Huliðshjálmr_ , to make one invisible.” 

“Yeah, that’d be more me.” He admitted with a grin. “But what about these new ones?” Razor motioned back towards the photos he’d taken. 

“Looks like more of a spell or incantation rather than a sigil.” She said, tapping the two runes he’d found. “We’d need to know if there’s more runes, or what they are. And for that, we’d need a more accurate map than either of us have.” 

Razor thought about it. “I do have one more avenue I can check.” He said slowly. He’d been kind of hoping that they could solve it without involving anyone else or having to map it out themselves. 

Dr. Sinian raised an eyebrow at him and he gave himself a small shrug. Well, she already knew they had someone way of contacting each other. 

He disconnected his helmet from the backpack and put it on, turning the radio to channel two. “Miss Briggs? Are you there?” 

-fin-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Was talking with Rin, (and with the exception of Chance’s dental exam, because nope) I’m making an effort to keep the tech about what it was when the show was airing in the mid-90s. So Callie’s communicator would be early cellular technology, the internet wouldn’t be in every home yet, and digital cameras would just now be hitting the market, but be very pricey. 
> 
> Runes. Omg, runes. Runes and I aren't terribly compatible, but there's a scene in an episode where in the background, you can blatantly see a building shaped like an 'X', which is what started this whole thing.  
> [Basic runes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runes#Elder_Futhark_.282nd_to_8th_centuries.29)  
> [Vegvísir](http://users.on.net/~starbase/galdrastafir/galdrastafir.htm)  
> [Ægirshjálmur / Helm of Awe](http://www.vikinganswerlady.com/aegishjalmr.shtml)  
> [Huliðshjálmr](http://www.galdrasyning.is/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=18&Itemid=42&lang=en)
> 
> ... May have also gotten distracted by researching possible Medieval Pepper Stews. [Medieval Cookery](http://medievalcookery.com/recipes/) and [Gode Cookery](http://www.godecookery.com/how2cook/how2cook.htm) are excellent resources for medieval cooking for anyone who was wondering what they ate back then.
> 
> And I have no idea what was going on with Dr. Sinian.

**Author's Note:**

> If there's any errors, spelling, continuity, or otherwise, please lemme know so I can fix it. Thanks!


End file.
